Seeing Through Deception
by bluexxxcarnation
Summary: Shinobi and kunoichi alike always use deception as a weapon, but what happens when Sakura lives for deception. Where does her heart truly lie? Surely she wouldn't lie about her feelings, would she? Things are not as they seem. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: Seeing Through Deception

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in anyway

Edited: 7/12/11

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**CHAPTER 1**

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" the twelve year old pink haired girl called out. Said boy reluctantly turned to acknowledge his teammate. Sakura ran up to him and stood up straight with a shy smile on her lips. "Sasuke-kun, do you want to do anything tonight?" A red tint could be seen on her cheeks.

"No," he simply said. Sakura stared crestfallen. Sasuke turned to leave realizing that his annoying teammate had nothing else to say. Sakura reached out to him.

"Wait!" she called.

Without turning to face Sakura, Sasuke said sternly, "Instead of constantly asking for dates you should be training to be stronger, but you're weak and annoying. You just waste your time and my time."

With that Sasuke walked off. Sakura stood there and watched him as he faded away. Sakura was silent. After a moment, she turned toward her home with a bored expression. "If only you knew Sasuke. I hate doing this as much as you hate enduring it," she said quietly to herself. She sighed. Why did she have to do this again? Oh right… because it was requested of the Hokage.

Sakura entered her house kicking of her sandals. She didn't even bother to say any greeting of her arrival since there was no one here to hear her. It's been that way for eight years. Ignoring the lonely feeling creeping up her spine she headed to the kitchen and made herself a cup of green tea to calm her nerves. The sound of a clock ticking was the only thing that could be heard. The girl just sat there as she quietly drank her tea deep in thought.

Sakura thought of the passing months with her team. She rolled her eyes as she thought about her own behavior having to pretend that she actually cared for Sasuke. She hated acting like a lovesick puppy. It was degrading. Sakura took another sip of her tea. She thought back to the day everything changed for her.

~flashback~

"_Okaa__-san, Otou-san? Are you home?" cried a four year old Sakura. She had just come home from the park. Sakura was sore. The other kids made fun of her; they beat her, all because of her wide forehead. She had bruises everywhere, but she ignored the pain as she looked for her parents. _

_The girl walked into the living __room and nearly screamed bloody murder. (No pun intended) There was blood… everywhere. Sakura just stood there as another pain overcame her. She felt her heart sink all the way to the soles of her feet as she saw her parents, one on top of the other, dead. She ran to them. She felt the warm blood seep through her toes. "Okaa-san! Otou-san! Why are you sleeping here!" she forced a laugh and a smile. _

_She knew they weren't sleeping, but she was wishing, pretending there were just asleep, that they will wake up__ and scold Sakura for crying so easily. Yes, pretend. Everything will be okay, just pretend. Sakura shook the bodies of her deceased parents. Tears slid down her eyes. Her heart burned and it felt if someone was clawing it out of her body. She grasped her chest in pain. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run, but she couldn't. She couldn't leave her parents._

_Sakura couldn't leave them, like they left her._

_The small girl __continued to shake their cold dead bodies. The blood was cold. Sakura could feel the wet liquid as it soaked into her pants. As if her strength was completely drained, she just stopped trying to will them awake. Tears continued to pour down her face. The facts had finally sunk in. It was hopeless. They were dead there was nothing she could do. The little girl held on to them as if her life depended on it. Well, at the moment, it did depend on it. _

_Sakura__ didn't know what she was to do. Her heart continued to rip itself apart. Never in her life did she feel more alone. She felt all her emotions drain away into a dark abyss. She felt numb. Her pain was gone, but was replaced by something new, something that could not be named. She could feel the eerie feeling sink into the core of her heart. It was more painful than when the other kids would poke fun at her. She wanted to escape the feeling. So she did the only thing she could. _

_She ran. She ran out of her home and into the streets of the quiet village. She ran away from her parents, her home, and the pain. She could fell the darkness of loneliness consume her with every step she took._

_Sakura was so blinded by pain and sorrow she didn't see were she was going and __ran into some one. She fell on her behind and started to cry even more. She hugged her knees to her and cried into them. She could never do anything right. She couldn't even run from her own fear, her own pain._

"_Oh poor child, wh__at's the matter?" spoke a gentle voice. Sakura looked up to see the Hokage. She was unable to speak any words. Her words were stuck in her throat. She didn't want anyone to see her in this position. Vulnerable, weak. That was all she ever was. She couldn't protect them. She wasn't even there to protect them. Tears ran down her face. She didn't want someone as respected as the Hokage to look down her with such graceful and powerful eyes. The man noticed the blood on her clothing and took pity on the girl. The pain was clearly evident in her young emerald eyes. _

_The older man extended his hand towards her beckoning her to trust him._

_Sakura wasn't sure what to do at the moment. Right now, all she could do is trust him. The village trust__ed him, so why not she? The tear stricken girl placed her bloody small hand into his larger rough palm. He smiled at the small girl and picked her up. _

Sakura sighed. That was the day her family was taken from her. It was awful, horrible, horrid, and morbid, you name it, but there were no exact words that could describe the pain Sakura went through.

Her hand tightened on the cup. She felt a twitch of annoyance as she remembered the words that Sasuke had spoken today. Sasuke believed that Sakura knew of no pain and only happiness and love. She scoffed. What was he to say that? He knew not of what Sakura went through. He knows nothing of her or her past. No one does, only the Hokage and her guardian, who, she might add was not with her any more. She had died years before.

The death of the Haruno clan was put into secrecy. No one knew of their existence. The Hokage put Sakura into the care of a trusted ANBU. She was to be trained early as a ninja. The reason for this she does not know.

Although, she was glad that she would finally be able to fight back and no longer be weak, she had to pay one price: her emotions. At age five, a group of ANBU ninja performed a seal on her that locked away the one thing that linked her to humanity. The seal was on her back. It had a simple design of a triangle. Each point of the triangle had the kanji of _happiness, anger, _and_ sadness. _That was what was holding her emotions together and out of reach. Sakura had no hope of ever finding the chance to love another, to be able to feel sadness, jealousy, pity, or happiness, only apathy. Nothing more, nothing less.

Her past had started to fade away, or was it the effects of the jutsu? She didn't know nor did she care. When Sakura became of age she was able to enroll in the academy, though it was pointless. Her guardian had taught the basic ninja skills to the girl. By the time Sakura first set foot in the academy, she knew everything there was to know about being a ninja.

The ANBU, by the name of Kira, had already begun to teach her advanced jutsu and techniques. Though Sakura lacked skills in the Taijutsu, she had an impressive control of her chakra and had keen eyesight for Genjutsu.

Kira had made Sakura swore her abilities into secrecy. In other words, she had to become a newbie in sorts like the rest. She once again had to become the weak girl she once was, but since the Hokage had requested it she decided that it was a necessity.

On some days she would think back to the day when her emotions were taken from her, not that she minded. Every waking day she felt the same feeling she felt on the discovery of her deceased parents. She knew she would not last very long if that feeling continued to fester within her. So when she heard what they were going to do to her she followed along with no complaints. They could not have known of her pain, but she was assured that it was for the best. She never found out the truth until the day she was pronounced Genin. The 3rd Hokage had called her in that day to give her very first mission.

~flashback~

_**Knock! Knock!**_

"_Come in!" called a gruff voice from inside the room. Sakura opened the door and walked in. She bowed down to the old man in respect._

"_You called me Hokage-sama?" she asked politely. _

_The said man looked up from his paper work and had a serious look to his face. "Yes, I did. Why don't you take a seat? This may take awhile."_

_Sakura silently did as she was told.__ "As you know, the Uchiha Massacre took place four years ago." Sakura nodded in understanding. He continued, "And resources tell me that you have been assigned to the team of Hatake Kakashi along with Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Is this correct?"_

"_Hai."_

"_I'm going to give you an A-__ranked mission."_

_Sakura was baffled. "W-what? A-r__anked missions are only assigned to Jounin and I'm not capable of being able to accomplish such thing."_

"_Don't worry Sakura. You will be able to handle this." His face became very serious. _

_She swallowed loudly, anticipation creeping up on her. _

"_Your mission is to keep and eye on Uchiha Sasuke."_

_Sakura would have fallen right out of her chair there and then, but she thought otherwise. __She regained her composure and started at the elderly man before her. Was this a joke? No, it wasn't. He wouldn't joke about something like that. She didn't think that he was capable of joking. _

_This was unbelievable. She had to "baby sit" the Uchiha? That was absurd and uncalled for._

"_Why must I do that?" Sakura asked trying not to scoff at the man._

"_Rumor has it that one of the legendary three Sanin is after him a__nd we cannot allow him to get his hands on Sasuke." Sakura nodded her head in understanding. "Your mission is not so simple either. Remember the day you were forced to secrecy of your abilities and knowledge?" _

"_Hai," she said thoughtfully. Was she finally going to find out their true intentions of stripping away her emotions and forcing her to hold back?_

"_We did it for this sole reason. For this mission. The day I found you in the street__s, I knew that his mission was for you. I had gotten Kira to teach you everything you would need to know just incase."_

"_Does this mission have to do __with the reason why you had ANBU place a seal on me?" Sakura asked._

_He nodded. Sakura stared out the window trying to understand all the information he was telling her. She was quite sure that there was more to it so she turned her attention back to the Hokage._

"_You can continue," she said politely._

"_Yes, as I was saying. Your emotions would surely get in the way of this mission and they way your eyes held such misery concluded the fact that it would be best if we had sealed them away."_

_That last bit shocked Sakura. "Wait! You just sealed them away? I though you permanently got rid of them."_

"_No, we didn't. It was not possible unless we were to raise you in a cold blooded manner, which I highly oppose."_

_Sakura couldn't believe it. She __always thought that she was unable to love or hate, but she could, just not now._

"_Sakura y__ou must understand that this is very important." Sakura could only nod as the Hokage continued again. "This next information is one of the utmost important. You will have to pretend to have a liking into Sasuke."_

_The only response he received was the widening of her eyes in confusion._

"_You need to get close to him, to earn his trust, but you can't have him trust you so much to where he finds out of your past."_

_Her eyes lowered in realization._

"_T__his will be a difficult mission and I can't say how long this mission will be assigned to you. The rest of the mission will be revealed in time. Good luck to you, Haruno Sakura."_

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" she asked herself. It had been awhile since she had that meeting with the Third. She had spent nearly a year hiding the truth. It was hard, she admitted, but she wasn't about to cave in. She wasn't about to be the weakling she once, _truly, _was.

Shaking her head of those distasteful thoughts she stood up from her chair to place her cup in the sink.

After a quick warm shower, the exhausted kunoichi tucked herself into her bed with very few thoughts in her head. She stared at the ceiling above her and began thinking of why exactly she still bothered on this mission. It was just so boring. Why couldn't they find another emotionally scarred child and train him or her? She rolled to her side and couldn't help but sigh in delight at the comfort of her bed. Her eye lids began to drift shut as she succumb to sleep with one thought in her head.

_'How much longer must I pretend I actually care for you, Uchiha?'_

And with that she fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Edited: 7/12/11

Standard Disclaimer applies

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**CHAPTER 2**

It was always quiet during the long nights in Konohagakure, but tonight it seemed to be eerily silent. Sakura always had a keen instinct and shinobi and kunoichi alike were taught never to doubt their instincts.

The pink hair girl soon found herself face to face with the subject of her primary mission. Sasuke's pace remained interrupted as if Sakura wasn't even worth the time to be acknowledged. She inwardly hissed at the sign of superiority. _'Damned Uchiha.'_

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Sakura asked quietly in contrast to her inner irritation. In her annoyance she didn't realize that she had forgotten the persistent suffix that always followed Sasuke's name.

But the young boy did and his eyes narrowed minutely at the girl.

Sakura didn't expect a reply, but for him to be acting like she didn't speak at all would have angered her if she had the opportunity. He walked right passed her allowing emerald eyes a glimpse at the cursed seal that was graced upon his neck. She gritted her teeth. This was more than what she would normally bother. She had failed her mission in the Forest of Death when the snake bastard decided to make his existence known. It was unacceptable.

"Sasuke-kun, where are you going?" Sasuke stopped and it was silent.

Surprisingly it wasn't the young girl that broke the silence. "Go home Sakura."

"I can't… not without you," she whispered. If it was up to her she would have seethed those words out. His persistent goal at revenge was almost annoying. She wasn't about to let the Uchiha escape her while she could do something about it.

When Team 7 participated in the Chunin exam, Sakura had to resentfully lose. Her original plan was to beat her opponent all while reining her skills in, but one look from the Hokage told her to do otherwise. She could only frown and bear it.

The first portion of the exam was rather difficult, or for Naruto at least, being that it was a written exam. The blonde boy was for academics, but it only got worse when Orochimaru attacked them. With Naruto no where in sight, Sakura could do nothing but watch Sasuke try to defend the both of them. Fighting back with her own abilities risked exposing her true potential, putting a risk to her mission.

It all went down hill when Orochimaru gave Sasuke the curse mark. Sakura watched the Uchiha as he shriveled up in pain and agony. She was about ready to let loose on the Sanin noting the opportunity that presented itself with no witnesses, but he escaped. She could only curse aloud as she took Sasuke and Naruto into her care.

With both her teammates out of commission and her running on fumes, her best option was to seek refuge until both boys gain consciousness. Being attacked by Sound ninja did not make Sakura a happy camper. She was at a disadvantage with her lack of sleep and no knowledge of the techniques and skills the ninjas possessed. Her movements were sluggish at best against the hunching ninja and she was quickly overpowered.

Sakura knew she failed her mission when Sasuke awoke completed succumbed to the power of the curse seal.

The third Hokage then died honorably against Orochimaru during the village invasion. With no one to guide her in her mission she was unsure whether she was to continue or not. A few days later Sakura received a letter. The Hokage's will stated that Sakura was to read the letter and no one else. It specifically demanded that she was to continue her task. Further notice of her assignment would be sent later in her life.

Sakura continued what she was told without question. She had noticed that the Uchiha became more distant especially after the day Uchiha Itachi came to Konoha. Sasuke fought against Itachi with blind rage. It didn't surprise Sakura that the younger Uchiha lost, but in turn it caused Sasuke to strive more power.

Which landed them into this very position.

"Sakura go back to sleep," Sasuke said while taking only a short glance at the girl. It was becoming obvious that he was well on his way to leave. He was stubborn, but so was Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun, you can't leave," she said with a weak voice, but he merely ignored her. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Sakura forced tears out of her eyes making her look even more desperate. It was quite easy for her. Years of practice pays off. "Sasuke-kun, please don't leave. I'll help you with your revenge. Just take me with you. Please. I'll do anything for you. Don't leave me." She could feel the lies coming up her throat, but she didn't care. It was for the mission.

"Go home, Sakura," he repeated. He began to walk away again and Sakura inwardly stiffen. She had to try harder.

"Sasuke-kun, please don't go! I… I love you so much," she squeezed the last part out and it even sounded fake in her ears. She inwardly winced, but Sasuke didn't give any indication that he heard the tone in her lie. Sasuke's steps faltered only slightly, but that was all Sakura needed before taking step forward. He then disappeared and Sakura's eyes narrowed.

'_Damn it! He got away.'_

Staying calm, Sakura scanned the area with her eyes and reached out in search of Sasuke's chakra, but it was no where to be found.

Suddenly his presence appeared behind her. "Sakura," he whispered, "Thank you." He struck a pressure point on her neck causing her to lose consciousness.

The pink haired girl grew limp and fell forward, but Sasuke easily caught her with the intentions of placing her on a bench nearby. He stared at her as he wiped her tears away unbeknownst to him that the tears were not real.

"I have to kill _Itachi_," Venom dripped at the mention of his name. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted anymore. The path he was going to take was necessary. With that he disappeared once again.

**Morning**

A headache drummed in the back of her skull and Sakura squeezed her eyes tighter upon registering the bright morning light. Groaning out she forced her eyes open finding herself on a bench? Why wasn't she in her bed? Within seconds memories from last night flashed back to her.

Tears, lies and the frustration. And then the boy had the audacity to strike her down.

"Damn it!" Sakura clenched her eyes shut. She couldn't stop Sasuke. It was too late. She knew that Sasuke would be too far out for her to track on her own and with the time frame that she would need, someone was bound to realize she left. Sighing out she did the only thing she could do. She took off towards the Hokage's tower, tears ready at a moments notice.

**After the retrieval mission**

The constant patter of her bare feet against the floorboard was all that could be heard in her lone apartment. Naruto and a few others were sent on a rescue mission to find Sasuke hours ago. They had yet to return. Sakura sunk into the couch. How could this have happen to her?

_**How did this get so out of hand? Damn… With all the begging I did to him before his departure, I'm sure he was going to give it all he had in him. He might even use the Kyuubi's chakra if it came to it. **_

Sakura sighed. Somewhere in the depths of her soul she knew that she would be feeling regret. She was manipulating everyone, but it's not like she could do anything on her own. She was supposed to be weak, she thought sarcastically.

Incessant knocking on her door broke through her thoughts as she rose to answer it.

"Is there something you need, Shizune-san?" Sakura asked. Shizune was panting and a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead.

"Sakura, the retrieval team has returned and all were injured badly," Shizune squeezed out. Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly. If this was all Shizune was reporting to her than that means Naruto failed as well.

Sakura gritted her teeth before feigning panic. She was really getting tired of all this faking! "Naruto! Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, we managed to stabilize the worse of it, but I'm sure he would want to see you when he wakes up."

"I'll be there right away," Sakura called out as she put on her sandals. Shizune nodded poof-ing out of her sight. The girl didn't waste anytime glaring at nothing in particular.

Sakura shook her head and pushed the thought aside for later. Right now she needed to see Naruto. Sakura locked up her home and ran for the hospital thinking of the next set of lies she would have to say.

Arriving at the hospital she made a beeline toward the room that the receptionist said was where Naruto was. She grabbed for the door handle when she heard voices from inside. Sakura placed her ear against the door and listened.

"I can't believe I couldn't get Teme back," spoke a sad voice. That was Naruto, Sakura concluded.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," drawled the voice of Shikamaru, "I'm ashamed of myself. I put the whole team at risk. It was my job to make sure everyone got back in one piece."

There was shuffling around the room. Sakura was about to pull open the door when Naruto spoke again.

"I failed Sakura-chan. I promised I would bring him back, but I failed. What will she think of me now? Will she say I'm weak and pathetic?"

"No, don't think that, Naruto. Sakura has a kind heart and will forgive you, in time. I knew that she had deep feelings for the Uchiha, but in time she will accept that you couldn't bring him back," Shikamaru said.

Sakura narrowed her eyes on her hands. She had a kind heart, now did she? She scoffed. Everything about her was a lie and she could do nothing about that. She took a deep breath and forced a smile on her lips as she opened the door. The two shut up immediately and stared at the kunoichi. Sakura ignored the looks Shikamaru was giving her and the sad blue eyes that stared at her pleadingly.

"Hey, Naruto, how are you doing? Gosh, you look like a mummy with all those bandages," Sakura pulled away the curtains, "It's a beautiful day out, isn't Shikamaru?" Naruto looked shamefully at his palms and Sakura noticed. "Eh… Naruto, what's with the sad face," Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"Sakura…chan" he began, "I'm sorry. I couldn't bring him back." Sakura frowned. "He was just too strong, but I promise you that I will do all I can to get stronger." Naruto forced a smile.

Sakura shook her head smiling while taking a seat next to Naruto. Her next words were playing out in her head so she stared outside the window to buy her some time.

"Naruto, don't worry about it. We'll bring him back _together _as a team," she smiled, "There is plenty of time. We will train together and become stronger. Then we'll bring him back so we can beat some sense into him." Naruto grinned.

"I will keep my promise. It's my ninja way," he spoke with the same silly grin still plaster on his face.

"Well I'll be on my way now." Sakura stood up and walked to the door. She paused. She still had to finish the act. "Naruto," she whispered," I promise I will train to become stronger so I won't be in the way anymore. I promise you that." With that said Sakura left the room. The room was silent and Naruto didn't even notice when Shikamaru had left the room. He stared at his bandaged hands. What did Sakura mean by that?

**Sakura's apartment****; evening**

Never did she think that she would leave the village without the consent of the Hokage. Although even if she were to be caught and dragged back, she knew how to get herself out of any punishment. Ninjas were not to leave the village unless told to by the Hokage or for a mission. She fell in both categories. Her mission required her to keep Sasuke away from Orochimaru, by request of the last Hokage. Of course that would mean she would have to expose all the truths to Tsunade, but this needed to be done.

Sakura sprinted through the shadows of the trees to avoid being spotted. She ended up at the very bench Sasuke left her at and clenched her fist. There was no way she was ever going to live that down.

There was snap of a twig and Sakura whipped around with a kunai in hand.

"Reveal yourself!" she called out with a firm voice. From a bush she saw a head of blonde hair. Sakura relaxed. It was Naruto. He was clearly there to stop her departure, but she wouldn't allow that. "Naruto?" He came out of his hiding place with a bag in hand.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto looked sad, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going after Sasuke…kun," she squeezed the suffix out nearly forgetting about her charade. It remained unnoticed.

"You don't think I'm just going to let you waltz out of here-" Sakura readied herself to knock him out. "Without me?" he finished.

Sakura was hardly ever taken by surprise, but this took the cake. She could only gape at him like a fish.

"I'm not going to let my friend leave without me," he grinned.

"…Naruto."Her eyes softened at the boy. There was something special about Naruto and deep down she knew that if she could feel for him, she would. Naruto walked towards her strapping his pack on.

"Well… here goes nothing…" he said.

"And everything," she finished.

Before the two could take another step, a voice stopped them. "And where do you think you two are going?"

Both children froze in their spot having being caught. The two turned around to see the perverted frog Sanin himself.

"Ero-senin!" Naruto yelled. Jiraiya twitched.

"I told you not to call me that!" he yelled back.

Sakura stared at the two, but quickly remembered her objective. "Jiraiya-sama, why are you here?"

He is annoyed expression melted away and turned serious. "I knew that you and Naruto would go off to search for Sasuke. Once you take a step out of this village you will be pronounced as missing ninjas. I won't allow that to happen," he explained.

"Where are you getting at, Ero-senin," Naruto asked.

Jiraiya twitched again. "I asked Tsunade to give us a mission to infiltrate Sound so you have permission to leave the village and addition to that you can search for Sasuke."

Sakura genuinely felt grateful. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama." At least this saved her the trouble of revealing her true intentions to Tsunade.

"We can finally search for Sasuke-Teme now!" Naruto yelled pumping his fists.

Jiraiya slapped the back of his head. "You don't want to wake the village up, now do you?" Naruto shook his head. "So shut up and let's go."

The two males began walking off. Sakura stood there staring at the path that Sasuke took the night before. She couldn't believe how well this was working out for her. She might be able to get Sasuke back now. There was still a chance…

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you coming?" asked Naruto. Said girl turned to him and smiled, but no real joy was felt.

"Of course."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This is a time skip to the Shippuden episodes. All characters' clothes are the same, and the event with Gaara, Deidara, and Sasori did not happen.

Edited: 7/12/11

Standard Disclaimer applies

* * *

**CHAPTER 3**

Summer in Konohagakure provided almost calm weather for all who lived in the village. Civilians of all kinds were bustling in the open market to find good deals. Children were seen playing amongst themselves in the streets. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves even a young kunoichi at the training grounds away from the proximity of any civilian.

The training grounds were blotted out by numerous craters and splinted trees. The young kunoichi swiftly dodged an oncoming attack from her clone. Quickly manipulating her attacker's moves to her advantage she tapped agilely at pressure points, her fingers flowing with a steady stream of chakra. The shadow clone puffed up in smoke, the jutsu cancelled out. A windmill shuriken soared towards Sakura, spinning dangerously. She easily caught it, spun on her heel and flung it back to its source. Putting extra strength and chakra allowed the shuriken to be nearly impossible to stop. The clone dodged the offending object, jumping into the ruined clearing. Sakura took the chance to flash step behind the clone and strike at its jugular with chakra scalpels. It too dispersed into smoke.

Sakura had been training for two hours against numerous of her shadow clones. Rather than sparring against someone else she settled to spar against her own skills and tactics. The strongest opponent one could face was themselves, anyway.

Her long tresses were restrained together in a braid that fell against her back. Her outfit consisted of a red short sleeved short based off her dress from her Genin days and black tights that reached her mid thigh. Her medical apron was folded up neatly under the shade of an untouched tree. Taking in her scenery she noted that Tsunade-shishou would not be happy with the destruction of yet another training ground.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she allowed the same thoughts that plagued her mind for the past two and a half years to flow through her mind. It seemed like a lifetime ago when the damned Uchiha left her on the bench, ego wounded. She would surely get him for that.

After the failed infiltration mission at Otogakure, Sakura took it upon herself to demand that Tsunade take her under her wing as an apprentice. Instead of waiting for the time to retrieve Sasuke, she chose to learn healing jutsu and extensive chakra control. She realized her actions all those years ago were not very reasonable. What in her right mind did she think that she could over power any sound ninja to retrieve Sasuke when even Hyuuga Neji was almost beaten to an inch of his life?

The training that Tsunade put her through was brutal and excruciating. It was no picnic having to stand against chakra filled blows against her sensei, even having to bench a five hundred pound boulder to the brink of exhaustion. Everyday she dealt with broken bones and fractures. It was quite a challenge, but it only caused Sakura to push forward. She loved any challenge that was presented.

All those years ago she thought she didn't have anything else to learn. Not only was she overconfident, but she was ignorant. Tsunade's training not only physically made her stronger, but mentally as well. Her eyes were opened to a world farther than this village. She currently had the ability to heal wounds, mend broken bones, extract poisons, and possessed superhuman strength due to her chakra control.

"Oi! Forehead!" yelled a feminine voice. Sakura blinked at the sudden interruption not realizing how long she had been standing there deep in her thoughts. She knew of only one person who called her by that ridiculous name and turned to greet the oncoming woman. The long blonde hair swaying as she ran confirmed that it was indeed Yamanaka Ino.

"Pig, is there something you need?" Sakura asked annoyed. Somewhere in the depths of her mind she found some kind of companionship with the persistently loud girl, but never took enough time to ponder this thought.

"Geez, attitude, much," Ino said now standing before the pink haired teen. "Well anyway, Tsunade needs you in her office. I think she has a mission for you." She paused in her words as she took in the scenery. "Rough day at the hospital?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "I guess you can say that. I need to be going now, Tsunade-shishou will throw a fit if I'm late."

Without another glance Sakura walked off. Ino stared after her. Since Sasuke left Sakura had appeared to become more distant never really smiling. When she returned from that mission in Sound all those years ago, she seemed aggravated at all times. Then Naruto left with Jiraiya to train. Nothing more was said on that subject, but Sakura seemed unfazed by his departure. She was now the only member of team 7 that remained in Konohagakure, besides Kakashi, although the copy ninja was always busy with missions of his own.

Ino was immensely surprised that she never really saw Sakura shed a tear in contrast of how emotional she was when Sasuke left. It was unnerving. Her best friend seemed to be hiding her pain and there was nothing she could do. Was there anyway to help her friend who was suffering from heartbreak? Or was she really suffering?

Ino shook her head of the thoughts and took off to find a certain cloud watching ninja.

XxXx

"Godaime-sama, you needed me?" Sakura asked upon entering into her office. She took in the appearance of her sensei and concluded, by the red tint of her cheeks, that she wasn't sober. Sakura sighed. "Tsunade-shishou, you know you shouldn't drink while doing paper work and assigning missions. That's a hazard."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Sakura. I'm the Hokage goddamnit," she mumbled the last part as she poured herself another cup of sake. Sakura took the bottle of sake setting it aside. Tsunade was about to explode with protest, but Sakura stopped her by placing her index finger to her forehead. Her finger emitted a green glow due to the chakra Sakura sent flowing to the digit. Her sensei showed her the technique that would clear one's mind of intoxication, but would not keep the body from physically displaying one's lack of sobriety.

"Better?"

The woman only grumbled out before turning serious. "Sakura, I have a mission for you." Sakura nodded her head. "There has been word that Uchiha Sasuke was spotted in a village not far from here. I am positive that Sasuke is out to track the elder Uchiha. I want you to find where the source of the information lies because that would mean that the person will have information on Akatsuki. As you know, we are lacking any information on the members and actions of Akatsuki. We need all knowledge we can get.

"And what of Sasuke," Sakura asked casually.

Tsunade only blinked at the question knowing that something like this would come up. "I advise that you don't stray from your primary task, but if the opportunity to seize the boy presents itself, you have my permission to take it."

The teen nodded in understanding. "Am I going with a team?" Even if it wasn't a solo mission she would be immensely pleased.

"Not entirely, I have received word that Uzumaki Naruto was to return back to the village with that perverted toad. You will pack your items and meet him at the village gates at exactly noon of tomorrow. No later."

"A team of only two, Shishou?" Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"You and the brat will only be tracking information and not the Akatsuki themselves. I deem Naruto will be safe from that. And the loud mouth would not shut up about going on a mission with you. I'm about ready to surgically seal his mouth shut."

The pink haired girl only face palmed. Leave it to Naruto to let old habits die.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, and Sakura," said girl gave her full attention to the blonde woman. "Don't let your emotions get out of hand." Sakura almost scoffed at the woman. Her emotions? Please. What emotions? She has none…

"Hai." With that Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Good luck to you, Sakura," Tsunade whispered drinking the rest of her sake. Unknown by the Godaime, those four words were the exact words the third Hokage said to the girl just three years ago.

**The next day**

Sakura strapped her gear and pack on to herself. She glanced at the clock that indicated it was almost noon. She tied her hitai in her hair and stared off into the darkness of her room. Sakura never really liked bright things. Ironic, she thought, that she had to become the very thing she disliked with bright hair and eyes. She forced a laugh then frowned. She was never able to really laugh and be carefree. It was not in her to do so and it upset her… well it didn't really, but how else was she suppose to describe the empty feeling in her soul when she tries to laugh and smile.

On some days when she would lose a patient on the operating table, her seal pulsed. Every time she felt like she should feel something it would burn. Sakura had no clue what it meant or why it happened, but she pushed it aside. It's not like she had anyone she could ask. They' were pretty much all dead.

She looked towards an old picture of her and her teammates back when they were Genin.

_**Team seven…**_

Sakura reached for the frame and studied it. She looked so weak when she knew perfectly well that she was the very opposite. Naruto and Sasuke could be seen glaring intensely at one another. Kakashi had a carefree grin that Sakura would never be able to express. She sighed. The photo held nothing precious to her so she just threw it over her shoulder and heard the soft impact emitted as it landed on her bed. With a shrug of her shoulders, she headed off to her destination.

The girl paid no attention to her surroundings as she made her way to the village gates. All that processed was the sounds of her sandals against the ground and the distant sounds of merchants calling out deals. Konoha held her whole life, but she felt no attachment to it. She couldn't enjoy the simplicities of life and it bothered her. She came upon the gates and spotted a speck of yellow from a distance… blonde hair. It was Naruto. Sakura forced a smile and waved.

"Naruto," she called out," Hey!" Said boy turned and his silly grin brightened up his face.

"Sakura-chan!" He ran towards the girl and engulfed her into a bear hug squeezing the oxygen right out of her lungs. Naruto has gotten stronger and taller. She couldn't help but notice that he almost towered over her.

"Na-Naruto, can't breathe," she wheezed out. Naruto noticed and released the girl instantly. He scratched the back of his neck and continued to grin sheepishly.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, I'm just so happy to see you."

"I am, too," she lied," you've gotten taller. You're taller than me now."

"Eh he he, about that…" Sakura laughed and dismissed him.

"Are you ready to find Sasuke-Teme," He jumped up.

"You still call him that?" Naruto nodded his head vigorously. Sakura laughed, "Of course, I'm ready. I'm always ready." Sakura stared off into the sky and Naruto noticed. Sakura looked thoughtful like she was looking forward to getting Sasuke back. Of course, the blonde wanted him back, too, but the way Sakura seemed to want him back made him a little weary. It was almost as if she saw him as an object...

He dismissed the strange feeling clawing at his spine.

"Well let's go Sakura-chan," he said happily, yet seriously. Sakura nodded her head and the two took off into the forest deciding to travel in the trees. The trees past by them in mixed blurs. The only noise heard was the sound of their landings and calm breathing.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura whispered.

"Hm?"

"It's nice to see you again." Sakura felt that it was appropriate to say something like that, but was slightly surprised that she meant it. How confusing. She felt… warm when she confessed. Then the seal began to burn again. Sakura gritted her teeth together, but quickly recovered. Naruto did not notice.

"You, too," he smiled. Deciding that it would be best to remain quiet from then on, the two traveled in silence remaining aware of their surroundings.

After several hours of traveling the two leaped back to the ground for a quick rest. It was only moments later when they felt two different, both foreign, chakras. Both tensed, but quickly composed themselves before speeding off in the opposite direction of the chakra. Their mission was to gather information not getting into conflict with any potential dangers. Sakura kept track of the chakra and cursed aloud when she realized both forces were trailing them.

"We're being followed," she gritted through clenched teeth. She and Naruto haven't fought side to side in years and without any pattern between their tactics this apparent oncoming fight can be hazardous or fatal. This was the last thing they needed!

Naruto's pace faltered slightly when both presences disappeared. "Their masking their chakras now!" he said quickly, "Can you sense them? I know you're more sensitive to chakra."

Sakura placed a finger to her lips signaling him to be silent. She closed her eyes to focus on any disturbance in the energy of the environment. Everything had some kind of energy. She mentally mapped out the area by the chakra of each object and finally found the two. Her eyes shot opened when she realized just how close they were to them now.

"Naruto! Move!" Sakura yelled, but it was too late. A figure clad in black and red jumped out and kicked Naruto. He flew back and hit a tree hard making him dazed. She then felt another presence behind her and managed to jump away as a big sword cut right through the tree she was hiding behind. Sakura reached Naruto and tapped his forehead with a small amount of chakra. He immediately gathered his bearings before getting into a battle stance. Their unknown attackers had returned back to the shadows, but their silhouettes could be seen.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto yelled pointing a finger at the two. Chuckling was heard.

"Do you find this amusing," Sakura asked.

"Very," one figured answered his voice laced with humor.

Sakura scoffed. "Reveal yourself."

"Very well," spoke a different, calm voice. The two did as requested and stepped out allowing Sakura and Naruto to take in their identity. Sakura sucked in a breath. This was not good.

There stood two famous missing ninja from Akatsuki. One of them was a prodigy of the Konoha, the very one who caused the Uchiha Massacre.

"Uchiha Itachi," Sakura observed, "And I can guess that your buddy over there is fish face."

Kisame glared. "Dare to repeat that."

Sakura smirked. "What is your purpose?"

Itachi spoke this time. "We are here for Naruto-kun." He spoke calmly, making his demand more intimidating than if he yelled. Naruto clenched his fist.

"Then you're going to have to fight for it!" Naruto yelled.

"That is what we intend to do," with that Itachi disappeared and Kisame charged at Sakura. She readied herself and pulled out a kunai. Her opponent slashed at her, but Sakura had no problem dodging the attack by jumping on the sword before landing a swift kick against Kisame's chest. He stumbled minutely and it was Sakura needed before she sent a chakra enhanced punch at his face. She made contact, but cursed when his body turned into a log. The log easily shattered under the impact.

"A substitution jutsu," she whispered to herself. Sakura scanned the area for a sign of the enemy. "Where is he?" As if answering her question, Kisame came from behind his sword stance to kill. Blood was shed. One had fallen.

XxXx

Naruto charged at the elder Uchiha with several shadow clones. Itachi smoothly pulled out a kunai and sliced through each and everyone. Naruto jumped back to dodge a direct attack at him. He made the mistake of making eye contact, but didn't realize that Itachi had placed a high level Genjutsu on the young boy.

"Naruto-kun, this could be done easily if you cooperate. No one will get hurt. I'm sure you don't want your teammate to be injured," Itachi said as he appeared behind Naruto. His eyes widened at the sight. Sakura lay crumpled on the ground drenching in blood, her blood. Her body was unmoving, not every the rise of her chest could be seen.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled desperately. His blood boiled. Itachi moved away as Naruto lashed out on him. The lines on his cheeks became more defined, his eyes turning red.

"The Kyuubi's chakra," Itachi observed.

"Look at what you did to her!" Naruto shouted as he charged once again, but with unimaginable speed. Itachi barely managed to move out of the way not yet accustomed to the abrupt change of pace.

Naruto crouched down and let out an animalistic roar. "You will pay!" he said in a voice that was barely his own. Naruto felt an ache in his heart as he charged at Itachi. He was unable to protect Sakura and she could be dieing at this very moment. The thought made him growl out again. Itachi only stood there as Naruto got closer. When the Jinchuriki was within reach, the Uchiha moved aside and grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket. With the brute force he never usually had to use he threw Naruto against a rock

On impact, Naruto coughed up blood and the nine-tailed fox's chakra faded. Before he could recover from the impact, Itachi appeared before him, wrapped his hand around his neck and slammed him once again against the rock. This impact caused Naruto's sight to become distorted, but when he refocused he noted that Itachi had once again disappeared only to be replaced by three figures before him.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke stood there each having a dark look in their eyes that made Naruto cringe.

Kakashi was the first to speak. "Naruto, you are a disgrace. You will never become Hokage. I'm ashamed that you were my student." Naruto clenched his fist. Before he could protest, Sasuke spoke.

"Well, Dobe. Looks like I win," he said with victorious smirk on his face.

"The hell you do," Naruto bit out. Sasuke's smirk only widened.

"You are pathetic and weak, not worth my time. I can't believe I actually thought that you could challenge me. What a mistake. You were never my friend. You're barely even a human being worth acknowledging." Kakashi and Sasuke turned their backs on him and walked off disappearing. Sakura was all that remained. Looking defeated, beaten, and bruised she began to cry.

"How could you?" she sobbed, "How could you let them hurt me? You said that you would protect me! You lied! You were too weak to protect me like you promised." Naruto winced at every word his eyes downcast. She was right. He was weak. He couldn't protect her. "You can't do anything right. Not even back then. You couldn't bring Sasuke back and then you left me behind. You're a sadistic monster. God, Naruto, what else could I say?" Her face grew dark before whispering words that nearly broke him, "Naruto, I hate you." Naruto's heart stopped as he watched Sakura drag herself away. He was hurting. Everyone was right. He was a monster and he was weak.

XxXx

The ninja stood there looking at her fallen opponent. Sakura smirked.

"Looks like I win," she spat darkly. Hoshigaki Kisame laid there unmoving and dead. "Weak."

Kisame, poised and ready to take her life, made the mistake of underestimating his opponent. With a burst of speed that he only saw in very few people, she quickly conjured up a chakra scalpal and severed his jugural. Before he even registered that he was easily overpowered, he was on the ground dead. A simple attack had taken down an S-class criminal. Sakura frowned. What a disappointment. So much for being in the bingo books. Her ears perked up when she heard a bloodcurling scream.

"Naruto."

The blonde shinobi fell to the ground unconsious. He walked over to pick the boy up, but sensed his teammate approaching from behind. Itachi quickly evaded injury from the swarm of kunai that implanted themselves in a vertical line in the boudler. He watched in slight fascination as the boulder shattered in half due to the force.

"Where do you think you're going with him?" Sakura asked. Her face serious. Itachi observed the girl. There was blood on her clothes, but not a scratch on her.

"That's not your blood," he stated, "Kisame is dead, I presume."

"You presume correctly." Her defensive stance was not tense with fear, but with apprehension.

"You must be strong if you killed him so easily."

"No, he had proven himself weak when he underestimated me. That is his fault."

"I see." Itachi could believe that. Kisame was not the most clever ninja.

"I can't allow you to take the Kyuubi," Sakura stated before changing her stance into offensive. Itachi dropped the boy on the ground giving his full attention to the girl. Sakura smirked and disappeared. She reappeared above him ready to punch him. He responded by flash stepping away from her proximity quickly catching her wrist. He intended to break it, but she poofed into smoke when he applied slight pressure. Her speed intrigued him as he drew a weapon from within his cloak.

Sakura made a move to cut his side, but he countered with his own weapon. Their kunai knives made contact with a loud "clink" the force causing a spark to form. The two quickly parted away from each other. Landing a distance away from the other they measured their opponent down.

An abrupt burst of chakra startled Sakura, but Itachi didn't even bat an eyelash as fire engulfed the area they were just in.

'_What was that?' _Sakura wondered as she slipped away towards Naruto. She reached for his face turning it towards her. "Naruto! You need to get up!" she hissed. Satisfied that he didn't suffer from any physical injuries she grabbed his collar and tried shaking him awake. "Damn it, Naruto! Get up!" She was sorely tempted to slap him awake. Huffing out in frustration she released him and watched as he collapsed back on the ground with a soft thud. Remembering that she wasn't alone she returned her attention back to her opponent, but found that he was preoccupied by the source of the flame. Her eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

If she didn't know any better she could see a ghost of a smile on Itachi's face before it returned to his normal impassive expression. The new presence felt familiar and Sakura inwardly smirked.

"So have you finally come to kill me, otouto?"


	4. Chapter 4

Edited: 7/13/11

Standard Disclaimer applies

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

The clearing was silent the only noise that could be heard was her own heartbeat. Sakura quickly gathered Naruto up and moved him from harm's way. Itachi ignored the movement his attention only on the unexpected visitor that still lingered in the shadows.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, Otouto," Itachi called out. In turn, Sasuke stepped into the light to reveal himself. Sakura scrutinized him. He had grown and she could almost taste the killing intent that he was emitting from where she stood.

"This time you will fight me, Itachi," he spoke with no emotion. Both Uchiha's drew their blades and while the two were in their own little world Sakura took the chance and observed new image of her ex-teammate. He was taller, more muscular, and no doubt he was much stronger. Upon accepting her observations, her seal began to burn again. The pain crept on her almost nagging at her, but was now becoming too excruciating. Sakura crippled to the ground in pain panting to catch her breath. This was ridiculous! Her primary goal was standing right before her and she couldn't even lift her own finger. Another wave a pain overcame her and she found her self biting her lip to keep from screaming.

'_Why is the seal reacting this way? Is it because of Sasuke?'_

Sasuke gave no indication that his ex-teammates were not far off from him, but if he noticed she couldn't tell mainly due to the blinding pain she was enduring at the moment.

Itachi, though, noticed her squirming. What was wrong with the kunoichi? Just moments ago, she was ready to have his head having already struck down Kisame. Now look at her, curling on the forest floor withering in pain. With his Sharingan eyes he saw a glow of chakra different from the chakra she possessed. It seemed as if there was a seal in place there. What kind of seal would be placed on a girl such as this? His quiet contemplation only intrigued him even more. He would investigate later.

"Do you plan on standing there or are you going to charge at me again? I have many things to do and you are not worth my time," Itachi stated casually.

After what seemed like forever the pain resided and Sakura was able to think clearly. Trying to gather her bearings she watched as Itachi and Sasuke readied for battle. Sasuke crouched down to an offensive stance. Itachi remained impassive.

Sasuke glared. "Today, I shall end your life and revenge our clan," Sasuke charged with his blade. The two clashed against one another with Sharingan glaring. Sasuke made handsigns for his fire ball jutsu. She could feel the heat against her face as it shot towards Itachi. Itachi started his own jutsu as a counterattack against Sasuke's.

Sakura looked over to her teammate when he finally groaned out. Noting that if Itachi had used the Mangekyo Sharingan on Naruto he would still be stuck within whatever illusion the elder Uchiah palced him in. She was relieved to know that he had just used a simple, yet powerful, Genjustu. She was only relieve becausse if she were to bring Sasuke back, she would surely need Naruto's help. She struggled to carry herself over to the blonde.

"Naruto, get up," she demanded. Naruto's eye lids fluttered open.

"Sakura-chan," he groaned, "what happened?" She answered in three words.

"Itachi, Sasuke. Now."

"What!" Naruto shot up onto his feet. "Where is that bastard?" Sakura pulled herself to her feet as well glancing in the directon of other two. Naruto followed her line of sight and his fist clenched.

"Sakura, what should we do?"

The girl didn't hear the boy speak to her. She concentrated on the fight contemplating whether her plan would work. Her timing would have to be efficient, accurate. Naruto called her name again, but Sakura merely ignored him. She watched when Sasuke's blade made contact with Itachi's.

_**Almost…**_

"Naruto, watch my back," she whispered getting into a crouch. Sasuke glared into Itachi's eyes as they pushed against each other. Their hands shook with tension. Sasuke tried to land a punch on Itachi's face, but he repsonded with brute strenght to throw his opponent off of him. Due to the force, the younger Uchiha was forced back.

_**There!**_

In a blink of an eye, Sakura was behind Sasuke and kicked his back causing him to fly quite a distance. The impact left him dazed, but it was all the girl needed before appearing beside him. She quickly struck the same pressure point that he had used the day he left her on the bench. She took a small amount of satsifaction in this.

'_Sasuke was never good at remembering his surroundings when he was around Itachi. Apparently even the greatest ninjas fall to their knees to simple plans.'_

Sakura turned to Itachi ready to attack at a moments notice.

Naruto watched in the distance dumbfounded. When did Sakura get so fast? He didn't even see her move until Sasuke went flying. He knew that she was training under the Godaime, but he didn't think she would be fast.

Itachi smirked. "Impressive, kunoichi. I'm going to have to find out more about you." He summoned a shadow clone that appeared beside him, only to take off in the direction where Kisame's corpse lay. "Until next time, kunoichi."

Sakura didn't relax until she was certain that Itachi had left the area. It was silent. Not a sound was heard. She walked over to the unconsious boy. She knelt down beside him and checked for injuries.

'_Only a few broken ribs. I can't believe such an easy plan worked so effectively against him. No matter. The important thing is that we have finally retrieved Uchiha Sasuke.'_

Naruto ran to his teammate and stared at Sasuke. Was he really there or was it another hallucination? Did they finally catch Uchiha Sasuke? It was unbelievible at how easy it was to do so. Naruto glanced at Sakura. There was something that made her suspicious. She was just _too _strong. He pushed the thought aside.

"Sakura, is it really him?"

"Yeah, it's definitely him. Here help me," Sakura swung Sasuke's arm around her shoulder. Naruto ran to the other side of Sasuke.

"What if he wakes up?" Naruto asked as he straightened up with the weight of the missing ninja.

"Don't worry. I drained his chakra. So even if he wakes up, we could easily overpower him." Sakura glanced over the horizen. The sun was setting and it was going to be dark soon. "Mission complete. Let's head home." With that said, the two of them headed back to Konohagakure with the unconsious teenager.

**Morning**

The missing ninja groaned out. Where was he? He forced his eyes open to take in his surroundings. The walls and ceiling of the room was white. He also noticed that there were chakra strings keeping him restrained. His back ached and he felt drained of chakra. What had happened? His eyes narrowed upon remembering what had occurred.

Sakura was what happened. He was in the hospital of Konohagakure. The last thing he could recall seeing was a shade of pink appear behind him while he fought against his brother. His fist clenched. He was on his path of getting his revenge and Sakura had to ruin it for him. Why did she always get in the way?

Sakura walked past numerous rooms quickly finding the room that detained Sasuke. She was certain that he would be irritated at her, but did she care. No. The door to his room came in to sight. She quickly greeted the ANBU who were guarding Sasuke before pushing the door open.

Sasuke sat in his bed ignoring her presence. Sakura rolled her eyes. Very mature.

"Uchiha," she called out. He grunted in response. She smirked in slight satsifaction at the fact that she didn't have to look at him with doe eyes anymore.

"Why did you bring me back?" he growled irritated, of course.

"We promised you that we would bring you back, did we not?" she replied like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Who cares for promises. Release me."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow that."

Sasuke glared. Sakura looked him right in his eyes. The two remained unfazed. Sasuke narrowed his eyes before turning away from her gaze. Sakura sighed. What a stubborn child!

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are to be trialed. You are charged by the following: betrayl of your village, the intent to kill your own teammate, and for going to that damn snake bastard. I mean what the hell were you thinking?" Sakura spat. Sasuke looked at her. She had changed. She wasn't clingy to him and she had definitly grown up. He could clearly tell that she had gotten stronger and was less annoying.

"I was going to get my revenge anyway possible whether you liked it or not. I could careless what you think, Sakura." If Sakura was like every other human she would have be fuming, but she wasn't. She was different.

"Your trial takes place two days from now," she mumbled. Sakura looked at him impassively before turning to leave. "Pointless." Sasuke thought he heard her mumble.

"Annoying," he answered back. Sakura stopped her departure. Her back burned again. Sakura glanced back at Sasuke and disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving Sasuke to wonder how different was.

Sakura appeared in her dark living room. Ancient scrolls were laid out everwhere. She closed all the blinds and locked the door of her apartment. She took off her red shirt leaving her in her chest bindings. Her seal could be clearly seen this way. Standing in front of a mirror she could see that the seal kanji "anger" was pulsing.

What could that mean? The orange glow began to fade so Sakura pulled her shirt back on and began pacing the room. What was happening? '_How is it that whenever I feel extremely annoyed it burns? Then moments ago…' _Sakura sat on her couch and began writing her recent findings on a notepad.

As she finished she read over her notes and rubbed her temples. She had only one theory as to why this was happening.

"_Your emotions would surely get in the way of this mission and the way your eyes held such misery concluded the fact that it would be best if we had sealed them away."_

She remembered the words the third Hokage said that day. Could it possibly be that Sakura was beginning to feel? Perhaps her seal's power was fading and burned at the opportunity in which she should feel. Sakura sighed and started scanning over the scrolls on sealing jutsus. She was determined to find out exactly what was happening to her.

The rustling of the scrolls halted as Sakura took another moment to think of another unexpected event. After reporting to Tsunade and basically handing Sasuke over on a silver platter she discovered that Sasuke recently killed Orochimaru. Her primary mission was to keep Sasuke from the evil Sanin. She wasn't sure what she should make of this discovery. This basically meant that her mission was over and that she was free to act how she wanted, but this was a classified A-ranked mission. Sakura ran her hand along her face in frustration. This was too complicated. Deciding to think about this another time she returned to the scrolls.

Being too deep in her research the young kunoichi didn't notice the insistent knocking on her front door that is until…

"SAKURA-CHAN!" boomed the voice from outside. It startle Sakura so much that she fell off her couch. Her eyes narrowed dangerously towards the source of her annoyance. She would surely be burning holes in the door if it was possible although she did know a few fire jutsus… Before she could turn the knob, Naruto came bursting in with a bright smile.

"Well hello there, Naruto, can I ask why you were yelling and disrupting me?" Sakura asked sweetly. Naruto observed her livingroom. He could feel the tension in the room tenfold. He broke out in cold sweat. Sakura was bound to hurt him now.

"I uhh wanted see if you wanted to eat ramen," Sakura glared, "with me", Naruto squeaked. Sakura closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You do realize that I'm extremely annoyed right now?"

He nodded his head.

Sakura sighed. "Be lucky I'm not going to nueter you."

Naruto squeaked again. "Gomen."

"Nevermind. Let's go," she walked past Naruto towards Ichiraku with Naruto trailing behind her. The streets of Konohagakure were very lively today. Children ran past the two ninjas. Sakura stared after them. Was it possible that she would've been like that if she didn't have to endure the traumas of her past? She dismissed the thought quickly and turned towards Naruto.

"First one there doesn't pay," Sakura said before taking off leaving Naruto in her dust.

"Wait, what? Hey! Not fair!" Naruto yelled chasing after her.

One moment Sakura would be extremely annoyed then she would be thoughtful. Now she was playful. It was very strange. Either she was pregnant, bipolar, or there was some kind of seal on her that controlled her emotions disabling her ability to feel… Nah. She's just stressed. Naruto increased his speed. He'd have to get there first. He was nearly broke and he was HUNGRY!

Unfortunately Sakura got there first. Naruto entered soon after crestfallen with a pout on his face. Sakura laughed. She actually found it cute.

"Okay Naruto, I'll pay for three of your bowels."

"I love you so much!" he yelled as he hugged her. The contact made Sakura feel strangely warm. The seal reacted again, but this time it didn't burn. It had a tingly sensation that left Sakura smiling. She was really smiling. The feeling was so uplifting she didn't want it to go away, but all too soon it disappeared and Sakura felt nothing, but emptiness.

XxXx

Sasuke struggled against his chakra binds. They were annoying. He needed to escape.

"Don't even bother. You're just wasting your strength," spoke someone in the dimly lit room. The voice was all too familiar to Sasuke.

"Kakashi," he acknowledge with a flat expression. His ex-sensei flicked the light on. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the silver haired Jonin.

"Sasuke, I'm sure that you have a lot of question that you're just itching to ask."

Sasuke looked at the book Kakashi had habitually opened. "You still read those."

"That wasn't a question," Kakashi pointed out with evidence of a silly grin behind his mask. Sasuke rolled his eyes keeping his eyes on the ceiling. "You really don't appreciate the work of a masterpiece."

Sasuke clucked his tongue but didn't say anything further.

"What are my chances?"

Kakashi looked up and sighed. He put away his book and stared at Sasuke, expression serious.

"Very slim, but since you had so generously eliminated Orochimaru recently your chances have increased slightly. Is that fact about Orochimaru correct?"

"Aa."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Sasuke glared.

"There was no change. I was done with my training and I didn't need him anymore. He was simply… disposable." Kakashi sighed in disappointment. He felt like he failed his student somewhere along his path of training him.

"If I'm correct, Sakura came in here early and told you your charges."

"Hn" Sasuke remembered his talk with her. He wanted to know when Sakura grew a backbone. She had looked right into his eyes almost challenging him. He thought back on the speed that Sakura displayed the day she had tossed him around like a salad. He inwardly thought about different ways to send his Chidori through Sakura. "Kakashi, have you been training Sakura?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "No, I haven't. She's been training under Tsunade. She claims Sakura has surpassed her. I sparred against her and it ended with me having two broken ribs and few fractures here and there. Why?"

Sasuke wasn't about to admit his approval in her impressive speed.

"She's gotten really fast."

This confused Kakashi. "Sakura never trained to increase her speed. She was only taught the basic healing jutsu and to evade," he said, "or perhaps she took the time on her own to train herself."

Sasuke closed his eyes to think. If Sakura was as strong as Kakashi said she was, he wondered how she would match up to him. Of course when she wasn't popping here and there like an annoying tick. He scoffed. She only got lucky.

"Is there anything else you want to ask? If not, then I must be on my way." Sasuke did answer so Kakashi took that as his sign to leave. With a small wave from the Jounin, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

XxXx

"Hey, Sakura-chan, we should visit Sasuke-Teme," Naruto said, or that's what Sakura thought he said. It was hard to comprehend what the blonde was saying with all that ramen he was inhaling.

"I guess so."

"Okay. Hang on," Naruto finished and licked the bowl making everyone at the ramen stand cringe in disgust. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Let's go." Naruto began walking toward the hospital with Sakura trailing behind.

"Hey, Naruto," she called. The said blonde looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"

"You know that Sasuke will have to be trialed for his leaving."

Naruto's eyes lost their usually brightness as his shoulders slumped. "I know. I just hope they go easy on him. He's my best friend after all." Sakura stared. She felt for the boy. If they execute Sasuke, it would be like losing a brother to Naruto. Sakura vaguely remembered the feeling she had when her parents died. There are no words that could describe it.

A new feeling overcame her. She had a stuff feeling that made her feel claustrophobic. She reached under her shirt and felt for the seal. It was warm. It was reacting again. These events were becoming more frequent for her. Maybe her theory was correct.

Sakura forced a smile and grabbed Naruto's hand. "Let's go. We still have to talk some sense into that bastard." Naruto had a small grin and allowed Sakura to pull him to their destination.

With her showing up at the hospital, Sakura was assigned to check on the Uchiha's health. She rolled her eyes. He was perfectly fine. She just knocked him out. It's not like he was internally bleeding or anything, but being the polite girl she was she smiled and said she would. The two of them walked towards Sasuke's room. Naruto didn't even bother to knock as he barged into the room. Sakura's eye twitched.

"Sasuke-Teme, you're awake! Now I can beat some sense into you!" he shouted. Sasuke cringed at the volume. Sakura walked over to him and punched his head to shut him up.

"Keep it down. This is a hospital not a festival," she hissed.

"Gomen, Sakura-chan."

"Whatever," she turned her head to see the Uchiha observing. "Is this interesting to you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Very," he said sarcastically.

"Wow, the boy has sarcasm." He glared at the pink haired girl.

Tsunade walked into the room and raised her eyebrows at how the former Team 7 was behaving. She could only hope they would cooperate with her news. She coughed to get their attention. No one gave her a passing glance. She coughed louder. Nothing. She twitched and stomped her foot making the whole hospital shake. She watched as everything unfold befor her.

Sasuke and Sakura gave the Hokage their full attention, but Naruto… well he's Naruto.

"Oh My God! An earthquake! Take cover!" he dove under Sasuke's bed in the fetal position. Everyone sweat dropped. And he wants to become Hokage.

"Gomen, Tsunade-shishou, I didn't see you there," Sakura bowed her head in respect. Naruto crawled out of his safe haven when he _finally_ saw the older blonde. He jumped up and pointed an accusing finger at the lady.

"Obaa-chan, you could have taken down the whole hospital like that!" he shouted. Tsunade's hand twitched. How she would have loved to throw him out the window.

"Enough of that, I have a mission for all of you," All three ears perked up. "As you know Sasuke is to be trialed. Well I made a proposition to the elders."

"And what would that be," Naruto asked.

"Shut up and let me finish," she snapped. Whoa, temper. "To lighten Sasuke's sentence, I asked them to allow me to assign this mission before your trial. Uchiha Itachi has been spotted in a nearby village and you three along with Kakashi, who I've already informed, will be eliminating him." Sasuke smirked and Tsunade noticed. "And you, Uchiha, will constantly be supervised by Kakashi, Sakura, or Naruto.. If you leave or do anything against Kakashi's orders, well, let's just say you wouldn't be needing a trial for your sentence."

"And what will that be," Naruto asked wearily. Tsunade looked down at the Uchiha daring him to challenge her.

"Immediate execution. Understood?"

"Aa."

"You are to depart tomorrow morning." Tsunade watched as they nodded their heads in understanding. She turned on her heel and left to do paperwork. Yay…

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. She highly doubted that the threat of execution was going to keep Sasuke from his goal. He was well determined in getting what he wanted. Sakura could only hope he wouldn't do anything stupid.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I completely rewrote this chapter because the more I read back on my previous writing the more embarrassed I got. There were so many errors and the words did not flow. To top it off there were character faults. So this chapter is completely different from the last. I started from scratch.

Edited: 7/13/11

Standard Disclaimer Applies

* * *

Chapter 5

Sasuke's brooding behavior was thoroughly amusing Sakura. Completely.

"You know, if I didn't know you any better, I'd think you were sulking right now," she thought aloud.

"I am not sulking," Sasuke sneered in annoyance.

"Hm, could have fooled me," she retorted dryly.

The two continued their walk towards Sakura's apartment in silence.

Tsunade decided it would be best if Sasuke be released for the mission at night so his being here wouldn't bring upon any unwanted chaos in the village. Sakura was blessed with the task of baby sitting him _yet again. _Seeing that Sasuke had nowhere else to stay and that no one in their right mind would leave Sasuke under Naruto's supervision, the brooding boy was going to stay with Sakura for the night.

'_I knew it. I pissed off some god in my passed life and now he's decided to humor me.'_

When they reached her door, Sakura just walked right in. She left her door unlocked.

"That's stupid." Sakura turned her attention on the boy her face in question. "Leaving your door unlocked."

She let out a not so lady-like snort. "No one would dare to steal from me," with full intent in going to her room she called over her shoulder to say, "I know you don't have to be told that you're sleeping on the couch."

Trust Sakura to talk to him like a dog. He scowled.

A glimpse of pink could be seen before it disappeared again. Moments later the sounds of a shower being turned on became evident. Taking a seat on the couch, now made bed, he gave quiet consideration to the bracelet on his wrist. It didn't entirely cut off his chakra completely, but it made it to where if any attempt of escape would be futile. Kakashi was the only one given permission to take the bracelet off of Sasuke when the time came.

Stupid. Annoying. Waste of his time.

He continued with his mental list of why he shouldn't be sitting around like this when Sakura emerged shortly after her shower dressed for bed in a gray tank top and black shorts. Her still wet hair fell over her shoulders in waves.

Not realizing that he was taking Sakura's appearance into such scrutiny that it could almost be called staring (he vaguely remembered thinking that her clothes were very snug on her, fitting her form nicely…), he quickly reverted his eyes elsewhere and saw the folded clothes and blanket in her arms. Walking to stand in front of him she spoke softly, "I think we got off the wrong foot. I'm not going to apologize for bringing you back, but what I do know is that we need to stop fighting against each other if we're to go on this mission together," she pushed the extra clothes in front of him, "here. You can wear these…" Her eyebrows then furrowed.

Hesitation, he noted.

"They were my father's. I'm sure they'll fit." He didn't have time to respond, not that he was going to, before she placed the clothes beside him. "Bathroom is down the hall last door on the left. There are a few items in the fridge. Tomatoes are in the bottom drawer. Help yourself."

And then she was gone the sound of her door closing barely audible.

Now that she was nowhere to be seen his eyes narrowed. Sakura displayed some difficulty when speaking of her father. Was there some kind of tension between the two? He assumed that Sakura moved out of her parents' home when she was old enough to support herself, but why would she have random articles of clothing from her father. Sasuke looked at pile of clothes assuming that they consisted of black shirts and pants. His assumptions were confirmed when he picked them up.

Just as Sakura said, he found the bathroom with ease and tended to himself. He emerged minutes later feeling refreshed donning only pants to sleep in, he took in Sakura's apartment for the first time since he set foot in the building.

It was small barely enough living space for two people. Thick books and numerous scrolls were sprawled everywhere from her small kitchen table to the random places on the floor. He also noted that there were no pictures anywhere on the walls.

Suspicion rose. He had expected Sakura to be sentimental. Apparently not.

The area around the girl spoke volumes in contrast to what he remembered her as when they were twelve. She didn't fuss about his comfort or stumble over her words flustered. She barely gave him a second glance now and even if she did it was always a look of calculation and contemplation.

Yes, Sakura had grown up. She was different, he didn't expect her to stay the same, but she was _too _different.

He was also appalled to realize that he was physically attracted to her. This was unheard of!

Pushing all annoying thoughts far from his mind, Sasuke tried to get as comfortable as he could since he was sleeping on a godforsaken couch. For the first time ever, he drifted off to faint dreams centered on a certain annoying pink haired girl.

XxXx

The sun hadn't risen yet when Sakura awoke, her legs tangled in her sheets once again. She always knew she was restless especially with all the dreams that she would usually have.

No, not dreams. Memories.

She never liked it when she remembered her dreams.

Pulling herself out of bed she looked outside her window and saw that it was still dark out. Sighing, she pulled her pink tresses out of the make shift bun she put it in the night before. Running a quick hand through her hair she walked out to wake the Uchiha.

She now found herself standing before him and for once she actually took the time to look at him. Not analyze or observe. She finally looked at him without his almost permanent stoic expression. His facial muscles relaxed his chest rising in falling with even breaths. Her emerald eyes lingered on his exposed abdominal muscles.

Even though her affections as a child were false, she wouldn't deny that Sasuke was attractive and if she had been any other girl would fall prey to his appealing dark aura that he emitted.

But she wasn't like every other girl. She was raised with a task that she didn't currently know what to make of and she wouldn't be able to love.

_Yet. _

Sakura became hypersensitive to the seal's behavioral patterns and upon further consideration her theory was being proven more correct with every passing moment.

Sighing she reached out to nudge him awake and she was foolish to forget that Sasuke was a ninja just like herself.

In a blink of an eye Sakura found herself pinned underneath Sasuke. She growled and quickly flipped him to his back overpowering him easily with the use of her chakra, but Sasuke wasn't having it. The pair continued to wrestle for dominance when the girl thrown on her couch with Sasuke towering over her.

He had the nerve to smirk. "You better get rid of the smirk, before I surgically remove it." His eyes narrowed.

"Hn," was all he said before he took his leave towards the restroom.

Sakura sat further in her couch to calm her drumming heart. For some odd reason lost to her, the proximity that she was in with Sasuke just moments before made her body heat up. Sakura blinked realizing she was flustered. What the hell? All the places where their bodies made contact were tingling.

Moments later, her ears perked at the sound of the door opening and sighed finally deciding to get ready for the long day that she was sure that lay ahead of them. There was a pause in her steps when she and Sasuke met in the hallway.

Now, you know that awkward side stepping thing you do when you meet another person, how you both step to one side, repeat the action, laugh awkwardly, and then one allows the other to pass?

Yeah, this didn't happen. The two stood in front of the other meeting the others' glare although Sakura found that she had some difficulty meeting his gaze with their height difference. Sasuke smirked noticing that Sakura had to look up at him.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously before taking a step away to move around him.

In a heart beat, Sakura found herself pinned and overpowered against the wall _once again_ by Sasuke.

Both of her wrists were encased within his palms. Sakura contemplated kicking his lights out, but thought better of it. Tsunade would not be pleased to find a neutered Uchiha.

Her attention was brought back on the boy when she finally realized just how close their faces were. Their breaths mingled together between them.

"Why did you bring me back?" he asked so quietly she almost didn't hear it even with their proximity.

"Like I said, how I keep telling you, we promised you, threatened, that we would bring you back. The opportunity presented itself and I took it," she answered calmly, aloof.

His grasp on her wrist tightened as he brought his face even closer to hers. She didn't think it was humanly possible.

His deep voice lowered an octave almost dangerously, "You'd better not interfere with my goal this time."

"Of course not, I wouldn't dream of it," she spat sarcasms dripping from every word.

His onyx eyes narrowed to near slits. "You're not the same anymore."

She suddenly had the urge to roll her eyes. "Thank you for noticing. Now release me."

Sakura was always trained to notice every detail no matter how small, so she was stunned when she saw how Sasuke's eyes flickered towards her lips. Her heart stuttered and she finally took in their position. His strong body was so close that she could feel the heat he gave off, it didn't help the heat of his stare. What made it worse was that she was almost physically restraining herself from closing the distance between then so their lips could meet.

She couldn't comprehend what was happening. What was she doing?

Temptation. It wasn't an emotion. It was a physical persuasion.

Sakura suddenly wanted to smash the wall behind her just so she could gain some distance away from him.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she hissed the threat in her tone, "You better release me right now."

He grunted before pulling away leaving her body cold, weak and walked away as if nothing had just conspired moments ago. She finally let herself breathe knees weak. Sakura had to use the walk to keep herself up, her thoughts in a jumbled chaos. Taking a labored breathe she almost ran towards her seeking refuge.

Never before did she feel as flustered as she did at this very moment. But that was the last thing on her mind. Her seal was having a field day, pulsing, throbbing and stinging. Sakura grit her teeth and took off her top leaving her only in her bra. Taking a hand mirror she angled it so she could look at the seal. It was illuminated, glowing with orange chakra. She touched it softly and hissed when it stung.

"What the hell is that?" spoke a voice from behind.

Sakura spun around surprised, her heart stopping. Sasuke stood at the door his body tensed, eyes narrowed dangerously at her.

She decided to play dumb. "W-what are you talking about?"

Sasuke growled as he took a step towards her. "There was something on your back. What is it?"

"It's… a tattoo," she lied though her teeth, "I got it after I made Chunin ranking.

"Tattoos don't glow."

"You just imagined it. And what are you doing in here? Get out of my room!" She demanded ignoring her state of undress.

Onyx turned to red. Sharingan glaring at her. "Stop lying. I can see the different chakra. It's a seal, isn't it?" It didn't sound like a question.

"Sasuke, get out!"

"When did you get it?"

"None of your damn business. Now get out of here before I punched you seven ways to Sunday." Her threat reached deaf ears when she was, once again, pinned against the wall. "This overpowering thing better not become a habit," she whispered.

"Talk. Now."

"Never."

They glared at one another, Sasuke's grip tightening on her wrists when he felt another chakra.

"Sakura-chan! Teme!" a familiar boisterous voice called from her front door. Neither moved. "Come on," Naruto whined, "We're going to be late! This is our first mission together! Hurry and open the door before I break it."

"He better not," Sakura said under her breath, "Well, we better not keep him waiting, my dear Sasuke. Now if you would be so kind as to get your hands off of me!"

Sasuke's grip tightened even more making Sakura wince slightly. "This is not finished," he finally said before releasing her.

Before she could even gather herself back together he had already left the room. "Damn it," she hissed. Sasuke was bound to beat the truth out of her one way or another.

XxXx

Sakura was about ready to rip her hair out if Sasuke didn't stop glaring at her.

It wasn't even five minutes after releasing her did he start watching her like a Petri dish. Not even when the four of them were swiftly traveling by tree did his gaze waver. She knew that the very first moment they were alone he was probably going to pin her down again like the way he does, and demand answers. And she dreaded it.

With the new turn of events Sakura thought back all those years ago. She remembered the pain she felt when she lost her parents. Her hands clenched. She remembered the pain when gaining the seal, the countless hours that she had screamed and begged for death while writhing on the floor. There was so much pain.

Sakura missed her parents so much. What if they hadn't died? She wouldn't have to live a life of lies and deception. She glanced at Naruto. The loud blonde had a kind heart and he didn't deserve all the lies that Sakura fed him.

She was just so tired of lying. Her eyes squeezed shut. The image of her parents crumpled over each other, unmoving, dead came to mind. Her heart squeezed painfully. Molting fired burned through her. She would surely kill whoever took her happiness away. They would pay.

Sakura screamed out in pain. Losing her footing on the branch she was perched on she fell to the ground. The pain of the seal engulfed her so deeply that she wasn't even aware that there was no impact on the ground. Another scream broke out from her mouth when the pain spread to her very finger tips. Crippling, blinding, as if senbon were being forced under her finger nails, like she was being charred alive, but there was no fire.

Just the seal. Always the seal.

Sasuke watched Sakura's every movement and every twitch of her face and became alert when he noticed the change of her pace, when she stumbled. He knew immediately that there was something wrong. He caught her easily as she fell to the ground. Cradling her to him he laid her down Kakashi and Naruto both on his tail.

"What happened?" Naruto asked panicking. "Was she attacked? I didn't sense anyone!"

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke gritted. Sakura screamed out again her hand squeezing his shirt. He could only recall one time in his life where he felt like crying out just as Sakura was doing at this moment. It was after receiving the cursed seal.

This only proved even more so that Sakura was hiding something.

Kakashi knelt down next to Sakura's head. He touched her forehead and was shocked to find that she was burning up. "Sasuke, what's going on?" he asked his former student his voice devoid of emotion.

Sasuke didn't answer as he lifted her shirt up to reveal the glowing seal. Kakashi tensed. He recognized it. This was by far the most complex seal he had ever heard of. He only read about it in a forbidden scroll.

"Do you know what it's sealing, Kakashi," Sasuke asked without taking his eyes off the now unconscious girl.

"It seals emotions, the holder becoming nearly… and empty vessel of a human."

A grave silenced followed each male having thoughts of their own on the girl before them.

XxXx

Sakura awoke to feel a throbbing ache all over her body. Raising herself to a sitting position, with difficult, she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. She could barely make out the contents of the room since it was dark out. How long had she been out?

After a moment she gained her senses and noticed that she wasn't alone.

"Sasuke," she acknowledged, "Where are we?"

Said boy was leaning against the far wall his arms crossed. He held an unreadable expression on his face. "A hotel room," he said finally, "We were unable to continue travel… after you passed out." He hissed the last part. Sakura swallowed looking away. "I'm going to ask you questions and you will answer them, Sakura."

She refused to look at him. Her mind was in a jumbled mess. She couldn't get out of this interrogation session this time, she knew that much, but it's not like she could tell him the truth.

So deep in her current predicament she didn't notice when Sasuke approached her. Sasuke startled her when he sat on the bed beside her. "Why did you deny it?" he wasn't look at her.

She bit her lip. "I can't tell anyone. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. You weren't supposed to find out." He finally turned to her his eyes surprising gentle, but firm.

"Why?"

"I-I can't say." He realized he wouldn't receive an answer on that question so he decided to ask others.

"When did you get it?"

Sakura took a moment to think about the question. It was safe to reveal that much.

"I was five when they placed it on me."

Sasuke remained still taking in this new fact, but was astonished. Receiving a complex seal at such a young age was unheard of. It could cause complications and was potentially harmful to the holder.

"Why?"

Sakura's mouth opened to answer, but it quickly shut. Sasuke noticed and finally turned to her looking her in the eye. He could see something flicker within them and they reflected something he was all too familiar with.

Loss.

The look Sasuke gave her was enough to break her. "My parents were killed when I was four. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't understand how or why it happened." He was surprised by this fact. He never knew that Sakura was orphaned. "The third Hokage found me shortly after and took care of me. I'm not sure how, but word of the murders never got it. It was deemed classified. Then they placed the seal, even now I still don't know why. They placed me under the care of an ANBU, Kira. She took it upon herself to teach me the basic skills of a ninja. By the time I was enrolled in the academy I already had the skills of a graduated student."

"Why did you hold back?" Sasuke was sure that he would have noticed her advancements, but he never even looked her way. He knew that she was academically smart, but back then he always thought her as worthless and a waste of time.

"The Hokage swore my abilities into secrecy. They never told me anything, but at the time, after losing my only family, I didn't have anything else to lose. I didn't want to feel the pain anymore and I didn't" She looked at Sasuke waiting for some kind of response from him. The next question caused her blood to run cold.

"If you couldn't feel anything, than how could you have liked me?" he asked slowly.

She couldn't tell him the truth. "I couldn't feel anything at the time. I wanted to know what I was missing out on."

Sasuke let this sink in. So she was faking all her emotions. She had pretended to care for them, for Naruto, Kakashi, for him.

She _lied. _

After Sasuke left for Sound he took some comfort in Sakura's affections for him. It gave him some hope that there was something still in him worth the time of others. He was on his way of losing his humanity, but when he thought of Sakura's last parting words to him, he savored that someone somewhere still thought of him. He thought she _cared. _

Sasuke thought she loved him.

"Sasuke?" He didn't answer her as he left the room.

Sakura was speechless. What just happened?

XxXx

Shortly after Sasuke's abrupt departure, Kakashi and Naruto came with the same questions that Sasuke had earlier. She could only sigh as she repeated all her answers again. Kakashi seemed to take it rather well with a nod of his head, Naruto on the other hand…

He was now sitting on the floor looking at Sakura with a broken expression. He uttered her name without the –chan. She inwardly winced. "I'm sorry, Naruto," she whispered quietly as she embraced him in her arms. His body trembled and he shook his head side to side.

"I thought I knew you pretty well," he whispered.

Sakura knelt beside him, Kakashi against the wall observing the unfolding events. She looked at the silver haired Jounin with a pleading expression. She didn't know how to handle this kind of situation.

"Naruto, you have to understand didn't have a choice," he said his expression completely serious.

"I really didn't," she spoke quietly choosing her words carefully, "But believe me when I say that I never took your friendship for granted." She clamped her mouth shut and gritted her teeth.

Naruto looked at her in the eyes. She knew what he was going to ask. "What about that day… when you begged me to get Sasuke back? Or was that fake, too?"

Sakura couldn't speak, her silence the only answer that Naruto needed. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Naruto, please believe me. There is a reason why I had to do that. If you knew the reason than you will understand, but I can't tell you yet," she was pleading him at this point.

The young boy had been the only person who actually stuck by Sakura throughout all her years.

"Then help me under-" his sentence was cut off when and explosion went off from behind them. The force of the blow threw all three of them back.

Somewhere within Naruto groaned out. Kakashi was the first to gain his senses and went to help dig Naruto out; most of the debris had fallen on him.

Before Sakura could even recall what happened she was slammed against the wall a dark gray hand squeezing dangerously on her windpipe. The smoke hadn't cleared up the attacker unable to be identified.

Sakura barely registered that the hand squeezing her belonged to Sasuke. He was consumed by the cursed seal, blinded by his rage. She tried to utter his name to snap him out of it, but could barely breathe.

_Sasuke, _her lips read. Emerald clashed with crimson. She struggled against his hold, but to no avail. The lack of oxygen was starting to take its toll on her.

"Sasuke! Step away from Sakura!" yelled Kakashi his hand on his hitai ready to activate his single Sharingan.

"Why should I?" his voice deep, menacing, "She's only a waste of our time. She's a liar who betrayed all our trusts in her."

His words didn't register in her mind. His grip tightened even more and she found herself drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said calmly, "Let her go."

The raven haired boy gave his former teacher a thoughtful look. "She lied to you, too. She mocked your ability to teach. Everything you tried to teach us she already knew. "

Kakashi made no move to respond to the statement, but in truth there was a flickering emotion in him that whispered that everything they thought they knew of the young girl was not true.

"Sasuke! Stop it! You're killing her!" Yelled Naruto now that he had finally managed to free himself.

Sasuke returned his attention on Sakura. He smiled sadistically when he felt her fading pulse underneath his palm. Keeping his grip firm on her he threw her out of the newly made hole in the wall.

Her body hit the ground with a solid thud. She lay unconscious and unmoving.

"What the hell, Sasuke?" Naruto shouted in fury before lunging towards the possessed boy. Kakashi quickly flashed step to restrain the now thrashing Kyuubi container.

Sasuke only smirked as he drew his sword.

"I wouldn't do that, Otouto," inquired another voice. Sasuke lifted an eyebrow in curiosity before turning to greet the new visitor.

"Itachi." Not another moment later, Sasuke commenced a fire jutsu towards his brother. Itachi effortlessly manipulated the flame with his own counterattack. "Fight me."

"You are truly foolish if you allowed the curse seal to take over all."

Sasuke growled darkly, but Itachi, using his infamous speed, appeared behind his younger brother. Without hesitation his slammed a chakra filled palm into the curse mark. Sasuke shouted out in agony, but Itachi did not cease and only sent more chakra into him.

Gradually the curse marks receded and Sasuke's normal appearance became prominent. He collapsed onto his hands and knees panting. As a precaution, Itachi quickly stepped away from his sibling in case he had enough sense to lash out at him again.

"W-what happened," Sasuke said through his teeth, entirely too drained to attack his brother.

"You don't remember?" Itachi asked curiously.

He didn't answer, but spotted Sakura a few feet away. "Sakura!" She didn't respond. "What did you do to her?"

"You really don't remember," he mused aloud, "You attacked her."

Sasuke clenched his eyes shut trying to recall his memory. He vaguely remembered seeing fading emerald eyes. "Sakura," he called out.

He looked at his shaking hands appalled at himself. He never meant to hurt her.

"You care for her," Itachi stated as he approached Sakura.

"Don't touch her!" He struggled to pick himself up. Even if he couldn't fight to kill, he had to try and fight to protect her! But his body wasn't responding, still in shock due to the curse seal. He could only watch helplessly as Itachi turned Sakura around so he could face her. Her head fell limply against the ground. She looked vulnerable. She was vulnerable in Itachi's arms.

Sasuke tried to push the gut wrenching feeling that filled him. "Don't touch her," he almost pleaded.

"I have business with her," he simply stated before willing the kunoichi to wake.

Her eyes fluttered and she groaned out her head pounding. When she finally registered that Itachi was kneeling above her she became apprehensive.

"As I recall, I said that I would learn more about you." He spoke so casually. Sakura swallowed. "I've learned quite a bit and am happy to share it with you." His face remained stoic. "And you will tell Sasuke the real reason behind the seal."

* * *

Review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Completely morphed this chapter ten times over. Everyone was out of character before, so I feel more at peace knowing that the characters are portrayed even better this time. Especially Itachi...

Edited: 7/14/11

Standard Disclaimer applies.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Sakura, what is he talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing," Sakura mumbled. Itachi grabbed her chin.

"Tell him," he demanded.

"No…" she whispered almost brokenly.

"He deserves to know," he looked her in the eyes, "and you know it."

Sakura flinched and looked away. She did owe Sasuke the truth. She couldn't escape, not in her state. And she was just so tired. Maybe this is what people feel when they're emotionally drained.

"I never wanted you to find out this way…" she said to Sasuke finally giving in. "Everything about me was planned. I knew the reason why they locked my emotions away. The primary reason was because I just couldn't stand the loss of my parents, but that reason is only a fraction of the truth. Emotions would only interfere with my mission.

"What mission?"

She bit her lip. Here goes nothing. "After team 7 was formed, the Hokage assigned me the mission of… supervising you. I had to keep my eyes on you at all times. I needed you to trust me. The Hokage then told me that I had to create affections for you. With my persistent being it would bring me closer to you, but push you away all the same. I swear to you that I didn't want to do it. I took no pleasure in my act. My duty was to keep you away from Orochimaru," her eyes became downcast, "which I failed.

Sasuke sat there taking this new fact in. "So… you lied to me just to get close to me. You tricked us. You tricked us all." He forced laughed. "You seemed so predictable." He looked at her with a new expression that she couldn't comprehend. "You lied to me that night didn't you?"

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat knowing exactly what he was referring to and nodded her head. "It was necessary."

What did Sasuke think of her now? Did he hate her yet? Probably.

Sasuke said nothing as he turned his face away from her. He couldn't look at her, couldn't face her.

"Sakura," there was no inflection in his tone, it was flat, empty, just like how she felt. "I despise you. I loathe you. You are the lowest piece of trash in existence." Sakura looked away from the boy. His reaction was to be expected, but that didn't mean it didn't leave her feeling unsettled.

"Are you satisfied?" she spoke wearily, thoroughly exhausted, to Itachi.

"Immensely, but…" he leaned down to her ear and whispered, "I have a secret for you." He now had her full attention. "I know who killed your parents."

From a distance, Sasuke wasn't sure of what he felt. When first discovered Sakura's faux affections he had been infuriated enough that he lost control of his state of mind momentarily. He had felt betrayed.

But now… He didn't know what to make of this new sinking feeling squeezing at his chest. He blocked out his surroundings. He didn't want to feel anymore. He dully noted that Itachi was speaking to Sakura now, but he couldn't quite muster the strength to even care anymore.

"Who did it?" she hissed. Her seal burned.

"Konoha ninja, people from your own village, slaughtered your only family." Sakura's mouth ran dry.

"W-what?"

"The Hokage had sent ANBU to assassinate your parents," Sakura couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

"Why?" she asked calmly, a little too calm.

"Your parents were once strong, famed ninja from two different villages that were in constant war. They met one day on the battlefield and somehow fell in love. When the villages discovered that one from their village married another from the rival village they would not tolerate it. The couple feared that staying in that nation would put you in danger, so they faked their death and fled. As retired shinobi they came to Konohagakure as citizens. Then you came into the world."

Sakura said nothing. Her body burned.

"Having a daughter with pink hair," Itachi stroked her hair in emphasis," in well known Konohagakure was unique. Word got around. The two villages discovered their affair and were angered. They requested that they be killed and there was talk of war. The Hokage had no other choice, but to do so. He agreed with their terms, but he refused to kill you since you were just a child. That night ANBU assassinated your family and the truce was signed."

"The Hokage heard about your parents' abilities in their previous days as shinobi. He decided that you were the perfect candidate for the job. It was a win-win situation that did not include you. You had lost along with your parents."

Sakura didn't know what she was feeling, but she knew one thing. She wanted to kill. The village she risked her life to protect every day betrayed her. Konoha was soaked in her family's blood. Her body burned, fire burning her throat. She wanted blood so overcome by so much hatred and anger. "I have the final puzzle pieces that will help you take back what is yours. Revenge. Come with me, and you will seek what you want most," was the final piece to his proposition.

Itachi watched as his plan fell into place. He told Sakura the truth and in turn, a portion of her seal crumbled. He stared as she struggled on the ground her body arching. He could feel and see the chakra glow.

Sakura could feel everything around her. She felt sick, sick of everything. Betrayed by the village she trusted. She wanted to seek revenge. Her struggling continued. She clenched her eyes shut and screamed bloody murder.

Sasuke pulled himself up ignoring the soreness of his body. His eyes shot towards Sakura when she screamed. Was Itachi hurting her? Did he use the Mangekyo Sharingan on her? Finding that his body had fully recovered he lunged at Itachi in hopes that his offensiveness would cause him to retreat away from Sakura. The older male evaded creating distance between them just as Sasuke had hoped. He knelt next to the whimpering girl and was confused to find that she wasn't trapped in a Genjutsu illusion. She was in physical pain, but why?

"Sasuke!" Naruto jumped from the building and ran to him with Kakashi trailing behind. "Sasuke, what happened?"

Sasuke ignored him turning to Kakashi instead. The older ninja didn't take his eyes off of Itachi, but commanded Naruto and Sasuke to check on their teammate. With that said the copy ninja took off into combat against Itachi. For once, Sasuke allowed another to fight his battle, his concern currently centered on the fallen girl.

"Sakura," he called touching her face. Sasuke couldn't hold in his shock when her eyes shot opened to reveal dark pools of black. He was too preoccupied by the sudden change of her eye color that he almost didn't notice her drawing a kunai. Sasuke pushed against the balls of his feet to leap away barely avoiding injury from the offending weapon. She didn't stop there as she threw various shuriken at him, all with precision and accuracy. "Sakura, knock it off!" He yelled while retrieving his Kusanagi to deflect the shuriken.

Using his speed he threw his body to overpower Sakura from behind. He straddled her using his knees to keep her legs from kicking him and pressed his blade to her neck as a mock threat to keep her from struggling. His free hand tangled into her hair to gently turn her face to the side so he could look at her eyes again. She glared back. There was nothing in her face that showed him that she was still his teammate. Her eyes were dark and full of anger. He never once thought that the girl beneath him could be capable of holding such cold eyes. He activated his Sharingan in hopes of digging deeper into her mind. He was desperate to find something, something that told the story of her anger.

Nothing, he couldn't find anything.

After making sure that the blade was securely against her neck to insure that she wouldn't struggle or that he wouldn't accidentally cut her, he lifted her shirt up to look at the seal. It glowed just as it had earlier that day. The seal originally consisted of the three kanji creating a geometric triangle, but the kanji of anger had faded.

"Uchiha, get off of me," she hissed darkly. A spark of chakra and there was distance between them. Not relaxing from his stance he notified Naruto of Sakura's condition. "Her seal has been disturbed."

Naruto appeared beside him staring at Sakura with an astonished face. "What should we do? I don't to hurt her."

Sasuke silently agreed. "Try to knock her out," he gritted his teeth, "And don't underestimate her. We don't know the extent of her abilities."

His blonde partner only nodded before conjuring several shadow clones all charging at once. She responded by punching the ground. With the loss of footing it gave her the chance to strike each and everyone without hesitation, but with each clone that was dispelled two more came at her. His pleas for her to listen to them reached deaf ears. All she could hear was the pounding of her raging blood in her ears.

Sasuke was suddenly torn between detaining Sakura and gaining his revenge. His eyes darted between both battles that unfolded before him. On one hand, Sakura seemed to be so clouded by her fury (in which he still had no idea what caused it) that her offensive attacks against Naruto seemed to flow together. On the other hand, there was Itachi. That was all there ever was. That was all he needed before taking off towards Kakashi and Itachi.

A water dragon emerged after Kakashi had efficiently executed various hand signs. Water clashed against fire creating steam that clouded the area and made it almost difficult to breathe. The copy ninja stayed low to the ground trying to sense his opponent. With his Sharingan activated he managed to make out the black figures of crows from the mist. He threw shuriken at each crow knowing that Itachi's shuriken were hidden in the illusion.

Itachi stood at a distance analyzing his opponent. He didn't want to fight. He had business to take care of.

Sensing that his brother appeared behind him, he only gave a passing glance over his shoulder before Sasuke pierced through him with his Kusanagi. Knowing that it wasn't an easy feat in injuring Itachi, he quickly jumped away to see his brother's body disperse into crows.

"Kakashi," Sasuke growled out, "I need my chakra."

It only took one moment, a flash of chakra, and the bracelet fell from Sasuke's wrist. He felt his chakra running freely through his body. He would need to be at his full strength to take down Itachi.

XxXx

Naruto felt as if he was being torn apart with every attack. He didn't want to fight her, not like this, never like this. He was the last person on the face of the earth that could do this. He couldn't even incapacitate her. Where did Sasuke even go?

But if he didn't fight back, she would surely fatally harm him. "Sakura-chan, snap out of it!" he yelled as the ground began to settle again. He cursed when she charged at him with chakra scalpels. He may not have been the smartest person, but he knew any weapon based on chakra alone could slice through nearly anything.

The two danced around each other. Sakura attacking. Naruto dodging. The skin of his arm got synched when he narrowly slipped through her dangerous combination. He didn't take the time to look at his wound knowing the Kyuubi's chakra would take care of it.

Sakura stood before him poised and ready to initiate another combination when she looked off into the distance and sneered. Naruto didn't dare take his eyes off her.

Her next move took Naruto by surprise. He didn't even know that you could throw chakra scalpels like kunai. The force of her chakra flew off in the distance. He traced it by sensory and noticed that her attack was going to collide with Sasuke.

He called out to the unsuspecting victim.

XxXx

Sasuke was in the middle of following through with his blade when he heard someone call out to him.

"Sasuke! Watch out! They're chakra scalpels!" Naruto warned.

Said boy cursed before emitting several sparks from his sword. The electricity crackled around him as a makeshift shield as Sakura's chakra collided against it.

"I won't allow you to be rid of Itachi," she said appearing before him.

"Sakura, get out of my way." His goal was standing right there! Revenge so close he could almost taste it!

"You want to avenge your clan, I want to avenge my family, but Itachi holds the answers to my question. I need him to complete my goal."

"Stand aside," he demanded before trying to strike her down maneuvering his blade to avoid any vitals.

Her dark eyes narrowed as she easily kicked his blade aside. She followed through with her other leg aiming for his head. Sasuke gathered a speckle of chakra into his palm to prevent injury from her monstrous strength as he caught her ankle. He stabbed his Kusanagi into the ground allowing him to grasp onto her with both hands. Pivoting on his foot he swung her around and threw her aside. Quickly drawing his sword from the ground he charged at Itachi once again.

Sasuke managed to catch a glimpse of Itachi's expression of approval before he was hit with the full force of Sakura's small sturdy body. His back landed roughly against the ground when Sakura drew her face closer to him her hand fisted in his shirt. "This is for all the times you've pinned me down," she spat angrily.

The weight of her body abruptly disappeared from his body. He quickly rolled into a crouch to see that Kakashi had thrown her off of him and was currently engaging her in battle. This finally gave Sasuke the opportunity to face his brother.

"What did you do to her?"

Itachi stared back, "I did nothing. I only spoke the truth." He tilted his face lower his face grave. "You best learn to be more observant of your teammates, Otouto."

Itachi had taken note of every movement between the two when they engaged against each other earlier. He noticed the way Sasuke's attacks were not lethal, aiming with the intent of crippling the girl enough to capture her. This intrigued him. He knew his little brother saw Sakura as more than a comrade, perhaps a friend? But after watching his unwillingness to actually cause fatal harm to the girl made him wonder just how much he truly cared for the kunoichi. Taking her from Sasuke would be the catalyst in his initial purpose for Sasuke.

XxXx

Naruto jumped in front of Sakura looking as if to catch her, but when he had firm grip he pushed her to the ground. The girl underneath him snarled out, "I don't know if you guys have some kind of fetish with overpowering girls, but this pinning down act is starting to really piss me off!"

Naruto grew weary when she began to struggle under his hold the power in her muscles, coiled, ready to spring. "I don't know why you're so angry, Sakura-chan, but we can help you!"

"Who said I wanted your help?" The boy before her didn't even know what he was talking about. He didn't, couldn't understand this kind of betrayal.

"Leave your anger behind! We'll go back to Konoha and fix everything." Naruto didn't even know what was to be fixed, but he knew something in the girl had broken.

"I'm not going back to that damned place," Sakura spat with venom.

"I wasn't asking you," he warned with a tone he never used before. Newfound determination burned through his body. He would do whatever he could to mend the broken girl back together. He would keep their family together no matter what, even if it killed him.

Sakura dispersed her chakra around her body gathering them in the places where Naruto held her down. Filtering the chakra through her skin, it began to burn his palms. His grip on her only tightened stubbornly in defiance.

"I'm not letting you go."

"Go to hell, Naruto," she spat hoping to delve within to hurt a deeper part of him: his heart.

A sad smile crept on his face, "Seeing you like this, I already feel like I am."

She growled out before emitting even more chakra against his palms. He winced, but refused to let go. Trying a different method, she pushed her chakra through his skin entering his body. She dove into the muscles of his arms. His face contorted into pain his grip on her finally relenting.

Smirking, Sakura kicked Naruto away from her satisfied that she was free.

The Kyuubi container landed ungracefully on the ground his arms twitching. Kakashi jumped beside him. "Naruto, go help Sasuke, I'll take care of Sakura." Naruto grimaced debating whether or not he should obey. "Do as I say. You are not prepared for this kind of opponent." Their eyes met. Of course, who could bear to fight against a former ally?

"Don't hurt her," was all he said before taking off towards Sasuke.

XxXx

Balls of fire pushed against each other before merging and emitting an explosion. Sasuke was starting to feel the affects of his curse seal from earlier. At this rate he would surely lose against Itachi. He couldn't do this alone.

Almost as if he had spoken aloud, Naruto leaped at Itachi with a kick. The older male swiftly danced aside and blocked the kick with his forearms. With his actions focused on the Jinchuriki, Sasuke materialized behind him and slashed at him with his blade. He wasn't surprised when his target dispersed into smoke on contact.

From a distance Naruto had called up a clone to prepare the Rasengan.

"Shadow clone," Sasuke noted when the smoke cleared. He flipped around just in time to block a kick to his stomach. Getting a firm grip on his brother's leg he used his raw strength to throw him towards Naruto's attack. The Kyuubi vessel stuck his hand out and braced his body for the impact. Itachi landed right on his attack and was launched across the field.

Not allowing even a moment to be vulnerable, Itachi quickly executed his crow jutsu his body dispersing once again. With this he was able to save himself the trouble of being injured by secondary impact. His body reformed a distance away from his two opponents. He was panting now, the physical exertion taking its toll.

"That was very well executed," he acknowledged his expression one of approval. He directed his attention to Naruto. "You are strong even without the Kyuubi's chakra."

"You're damn straight!" he raged before lunging at the Akatsuki member once again. Itachi's eyes narrowed. It was about time that he finished this. With his speed he appeared to the right of Naruto fist poised to attack. Instead of evading, he pulled his forearms in front of him to brace himself. Noticing that this method of attack had created a blind spot on the Jinchuriki, he flash-stepped behind him. With a blink of an eye he struck Naruto on a pressure point rendering him unconscious, but before his body could slump to the ground, Itachi spun his leg around kicking Naruto aside.

XxXx

Kakashi found himself panting a slight sheen of sweat gracing his features. Sakura was proving to be a difficult opponent. She mastered speed, strength, and strategic planning all in one. A triple threat.

His senses were going haywire trying to track the girl down. Her current strategy of attack: touch and go. She would unleash a brutal combination of attacks before jumping away out of his sight. He wondered idly if Sakura was a person that enjoyed surprises. If they had been sparring, he would have been annoyed.

A hand shot up grabbing for his ankle. He soon found his body completely submerged within the ground.

Sakura jumped in front of him and crouched down to get a better look at him. If he wasn't facing a possible sentence to death he would have smiled. This was the attack he used on Sasuke when he charged at him all those years ago. Times were simpler for those kids back then…

Kakashi was forcefully thrown back into reality when she drew a kunai and pressed it against his neck flashing him a smirk.

"You have such a pretty eye. It's a shame they don't match," she tsk-ed as if it was an abomination. She grazed his cheek with the tip of her weapon. "You know, I never did any kind of surgery dealing with the eyes. Mainly because they're so delicate and can be so easily harmed." Her face darkened. "I think that maybe I should start right now." Kakashi froze unable to do anything else. He could escape, but he would need some time. Time was the last thing he was going to get. He was the famed Copy Ninja and he couldn't do a damn thing to get himself out of this current situation.

Sakura had started to break through the skin under his eyebrow when she was forced away, an onslaught of shuriken embedded in the ground where she had once stood. Kakashi let out a breath of relief as he focused on releasing himself.

Sasuke landed next to him, his stance.

When the silver haired man finally gathered his bearings he sent a pointed look to the boy next to him.

A moment later, they both engaged hand to hand against Sakura. This change of pace sent her previous game plan down the drain. Her defenses withstood their attacks, but their intentions were to cut off any opening of evasiveness. They kept their patterns of attack irregular with no sense of rhythm.

It didn't take long for Kakashi to catch her on her blind side and quickly immobilized her. Striking a serious of pressure points, Sakura was soon dead to the world.

But before the two could recover her, the area around her was soon engulfed in flames. Kakashi and Sasuke leaped back to avoid being scorched.

The Copy Ninja scanned around to find an opening, even a small one, to try and retrieve Sakura, but there was none. He poised his hands ready to initiate a sequence of hand signs for a water jutsu, when the flames ceased to reveal Itachi carrying Sakura bridal style in his arms.

Somewhere in the mist of their fight Naruto had regained consciousness and was standing beside Sasuke.

All three were ready to begin another round of attack when Itachi smirked.

"I'll take good care of her, Otouto. I'll take care of her where you failed." Then he disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves. Sasuke stared at the spot where the two had just occupied. She was gone. Itachi took her. Sasuke fell to his knees his eyes wide with an indecipherable emotion.

Sakura was with Itachi.

Naruto and Kakashi stood aside and watched the young Uchiha. He looked pained. They were all in pain. They couldn't get to her. Itachi took her to god knows where. Who knows when they would ever see her again?

Sasuke forced his eyes closed. Another person he swore to protect was taken from him by Itachi. He was angry. He failed her just like he failed his family. He was too weak.

* * *

A/N: And for those of you who haven't realized, Sakura is _not _so unbelievable strong. Her greatest advantage is everyone's underestimation in her abilities to fight. No one knows her true strength because nobody fought her before.

Poor Sasuke doesn't realize that he's a total hypocrite right now haha. He won't let Sakura have her revenge while he demands his own.

Review please! :)


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: The original had entirely too many unnecessary happenings, but character development is playing through a lot easier.

Edited: 7/14/11

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Kami, I hate paper work," grumbled the current Hokage. Her hazel eyes glared daggers at the numerous piles of Satan's spawn. She groaned aloud before slamming her head against her desk in frustration. After realizing that it was a bad idea to inflict self injury (because she was suffering from one hell of a hangover) lines of profanity filled the room.

"My, Tsunade-Hime, I never knew you possessed such a vocabulary," Jiraiya remarked cheerfully as he walked in.

The _very _grouchy blonde kept her head down, but her finger twitched. She pondered just how far she could punch her perverted former teammate this time.

"Got to hell. Actually, get out first then go to hell," she growled.

"Such harsh words, Tsunade-Hime," he cried in feigned hurt, "But I need to discuss something that is of the utmost importance." His voice turned grave. The change of tone caused the blonde to finally look up.

"What is it about?"

"Sakura," an eye brow rose, "I think you'd better take a look at this yourself." He threw two scrolls towards Tsunade who caught them easily. One was a mission scroll the other was worn down.

Gently unraveling the worn scroll first her eyes narrowed. Hazel eyes scanned through the print.

A moment later she slammed her palm against her desk rising to her feet. "What is the meaning of this?" her tone torn between a growl of frustration and disbelief. "How did you receive this information?"

"A little birdie told me keep an eye out for it." Her eyes narrowed, but understood what he was implying. "I'll leave you alone to that. It would be in your best interest to read both scrolls thoroughly." Tsunade gave no words of parting before Jiraiya vanished.

Sinking back in her chair, she returned her attention back to the scroll before her. It was a signed treaty dated twelve years ago.

XxXx

Hours later the remaining members of Team 7 dragged through the village gates. Not a thought on their movements they made their way to the Hokage's tower. Naruto stared only at his feet crestfallen. He was mad at himself for not being able to keep Sakura from Itachi. He gained conscious only to see her being taken away.

Kakashi wanted so badly to succumb to the temptation of going to the memorial stone at this moment. He couldn't bear this heavy feeling that rested on his shoulders. He failed to keep his team together… again. Just like all those years ago his eyes were set only on the younger Uchiha. He should have been more aware of his surroundings.

Sasuke didn't even bother to process how much time had passed. He felt worthless. He couldn't kill his brother and he couldn't protect her. He remembered the look in her eyes when they fought. They were no longer hers. They were not the unique emerald he was use to. He could recall the feel of her fading pulse against his palm. His hand throbbed fist clenched.

They flooded into Tsunade's office to find her in her chair back towards them. "You came back earlier than expected. You guys were barely gone for a day." She finally turned to face them. She propped her elbows upon her desk chin resting atop her intertwined fingers. Hazel eyes bore down at them. "Where is Sakura?"

Keeping a professional façade, Kakashi straightened his posture. "We intercepted Itachi and engaged in combat. Complications arose…" he hesitated, "centered on Sakura."

Tsunade nodded. "I am aware of her conditions."

Naruto's ears perked. For once he didn't address her with that ridiculous name. "How did you know, Tsunade?" He face fell. "We barely found out and we were her teammates."

She cleared her throat. "As was I." She gestured to the two scrolls before her. "One is a treaty," her eyes glanced at Sasuke, "the other is a mission scroll."

Sasuke tensed but said nothing. He already knew the contents.

"Now tell me," she started again, "Where is my apprentice?"

Kakashi ran a gloved hand through his disheveled hair. "Due to a current turn of events, it seems that Sakura's persona changed. Her seal became corrupt and she was taken by Uchiha Itachi."

Tsunade bit her lip to keep her from yelling. "Is that all?"

"Hai."

She closed her eyes and sighed. One some days she hated her job. Today was one of those days. "I will dispatch a team to track Sakura. You three are temporarily taken off of active duty." Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but one look from the Godaime and it snapped closed. "When we find a lead you three will immediately follow through. But for now," she took in their appearance, "go to your homes. Get some rest. Uchiha, you will be staying with Naruto."

Had it been a regular occasion Sasuke would have sneered at the thought of inhabiting with Naruto.

"Don't think that we've forgotten that you're a missing ninja. ANBU will be patrolling at frequent intervals. You will be informed when your trial has a set date."

He gave no indication that he cared.

Naruto didn't seem bothered by this new upbringing. He wasn't worried for Sasuke. After fighting together he knew there was some unspoken truce that he would stay. The raven haired boy may be a bastard, but he was a bastard that still cared for them.

"Are we going to inform Sakura-chan's parents?"

"That won't be necessary."

"But they deserve to know!"

"They are not alive!"

The three simultaneously held their own reactions of surprise. Naruto's face contorted into plain confusion. Kakashi's single eye narrowed and the last occupant finally glanced at the woman.

She continued calmly this time, "Sakura's parents were killed when she was a child. Her guardian died on duty years after. She's an orphan."

The truth was out and no one spoke trying to comprehend this new fact. Even Tsunade had a difficult time understanding this new knowledge. No one knew that Sakura lived alone.

"How did you find out?" Naruto asked softly his face saddened.

She picked up one of the scrolls on top of her desk. "As I said before this is a signed treaty. There was conflict between to villages and Sakura's parents were unluckily enough to be caught in between it. This is just material evidence that they had to be killed to keep peace within all the fighting." She tossed the object at Kakashi. She saw that as he caught it there was a slight droop in his posture. He was hurting in the worst way. They all were. "Read it amongst you, I don't care." Picking up the other scroll she tossed it at the younger Uchiha. "This is only for your eyes to read. No one else. Understood."

"Aa."

"Dismissed." With that each male took their own method of exit. Naruto dragged his feet through the door, Kakashi dispersed leaving a swirl of leaves, and Sasuke flew out the window.

Now alone, she slumped into her chair sake in hand. She allowed herself to finally feel the sorrow that she was avoiding. Through out the years that Sakura was under her tutelage, she saw herself in the younger girl. Her apprentice held a flame within her that strived to grow stronger. A tear fell from her eye. She was like a daughter to her and now she could only hope that Sakura was okay.

XxXx

Sasuke found himself wondering towards the old training grounds were he had once trained. His hands stroke the three stumps in the clearing. He could vaguely recall how ridiculous Naruto had look tied to it and how annoying Sakura was. His hand clenched the scroll in his hand.

Temptation was calling him demanding he leave the village to pursue Itachi.

But he knew better this time. Finding a trail on Itachi was difficult as it is, but actually finding him would be almost impossible. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. Sasuke could use this time to train, to become stronger so that next time he would take Itachi to the grave.

The urge to punch something was becoming more dominating with every minute that passed.

Deciding that it would be best to distract himself, he made himself comfortable under the shade of a tree intent on reading this mission scroll.

Naruto watched Sasuke from a distance. He, too, reminisced in the memories of the bell test all those years ago. His interested heightened when Sasuke had been unknowingly staring at the spot Sakura had sat that day. His mouth curved into a small smile and after some thought decided that he would leave Sasuke to read that scroll before going to talk to him.

Sakura did speak the truth, Sasuke noted as he scanned though the contents intending to take in details. She had acted with good intentions. He shook his head trying to rid himself of his guilt. Trying to take her life and then informing her of his hatred for her was not the best way with dealing with his own feel of betrayal. He just couldn't stand the thought of knowing that another person that meant something to him went behind his back.

His eyes shut closed trying to push the demons of his past away along with the pounding of an oncoming headache.

Thinking back on it, Sakura did risk her life numerous times trying to keep him safe. She tended to him when he lost consciousness no thanks to the cursed seal. She protected Naruto and himself when Oto ninja charged at her with the intentions of taking his life.

Her mission wasn't a cruise through life. It would test one's patience and keep them on their toes at all time with no moment of rest. Sakura had to live up to her cover for years. Mishaps were unacceptable. The resentment he held for her started to morph into genuine _appreciation. _

Although he didn't know who Sakura really was his gut was telling him that even though she had to resentfully create feelings for him, she wouldn't mock him for believing her. That was his true worry. That he had accepted her feelings (albeit annoyed, and not reciprocated) and she would laugh at him for his obliviousness.

Sakura was only doing her job.

Sasuke opened his eyes when he sensed Naruto approaching him.

"Hey bastard." There was no provocation in his tone. "Come on, you've been sitting there for awhile. ANBU are starting to bitch about you walking about freely for so long," Sasuke rolled his eyes. ANBU didn't _bitch. _

There was a moment of hesitation. "Do you have anything at Sakura-chan's place?"

Getting to his feet he walked the path to Sakura's apartment. He didn't have anything of his there, but after everything that's happened he wanted to take another look into her life. Naruto followed him without a word.

The two boys arrived at Sakura's front door and Sasuke, once again, took lead and walked right in. The first thing he noticed was how potent her scent (smelling vaguely of strawberries and vanilla) was overpowering all other smells. The room was dim (the curtains drawn) and the feeling it being inhabited was not tangible like last time. Sasuke took in his surroundings but this time looked underneath the underneath. Upon closer inspection most scrolls that were sprawled every where contained text on different kind of seals. He noticed an opened notepad on her small kitchen table. Lifting it to his sight he read Sakura's handwriting. She was taking notes on her seal.

Did she know that there something wrong?

Naruto had disappeared probably on his own adventure of rediscovering Sakura.

Remembering his thoughts about Sakura's sentimentality about pictures, he took in the empty walls of her living room. Now he knew why she her walls were bare. Making his way towards her room he caught a glimpse of the clothes she had given him that night.

"_There were my father's."_

Sasuke ran his hand against the material of his shirt. The fact that she kept clothes of her deceased father showed that Sakura valued some things. Sensing that Naruto was in her room, he continued on to join him. He was greeted with the sight of Naruto sitting on the edge of her bed his body slumped forward.

Sasuke didn't say anything knowing that Naruto was feeling vulnerable.

"Even though we never really knew her…" Cerulean eyes looked up at the Uchiha, "I miss her."

He met his gaze, but was pulled away when something under her bed caught his attention. He approached the bed, Naruto watching his every move. He pulled out a box and placed on the bed, him on his knees looking at it with apprehension.

Opening it would mean invading Sakura's personal space. Sasuke dully noted that they were already invading her house, so what's the harm in this?

Naruto was about to protest when Sasuke opened the box, but his words fell short when he saw the contents of the box. There were photos. Lots of photos. They were pictures of Sakura. Sasuke grabbed for a picture that interested: it was a young woman with red hair cradling a newborn Sakura. He assumed that it was her mother seeing that the woman was looking at Sakura with adoring eyes. Looking at another photo he came upon a young man with green eyes, Sakura's eyes.

At least they mystery of Sakura's unusual appearance was answered.

"Oi, Teme! Look at this." Naruto shoved another photo so close to Sasuke's face his eyes crossed for a minute. After affectively slapping the blonde in the back of the head for being an idiot, he saw that it was Sakura as a toddler. And she was _smiling. _She was giving the camera a wide smile, her baby cheeks lifted and her eyes sparkling.

Sasuke never recalled ever seeing a sight like this before. Her eyes never sparkled.

For the passed couple of hours, Sasuke had only focused on the actions of the pink haired mednin and not on the repercussions. Seeing this photo, he finally registered just how much she lost.

Sakura lost her smile.

"She looks happy, ne?"

Sasuke squeezed the photo between his fingers. "Aa."

* * *

A/N: I almost feel like I'm just posting this whole story all over again since I'm basically starting from scratch...

Reviews are _really _nice...


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Another one started out nearly from scratch. This version turned out much better in my opinion and geez my back aches. I've spent nearly twelve hours straight trying to get this redone. I have bad writing habits haha. This by far the longest chapter I have ever written for this story, both before and after revising and editing. I hope you enjoy!

Revising completed: 7/25/11

Repost:7/27/11

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way.

* * *

Chapter 8

Granted it was an unusual sight seeing Uchiha Sasuke standing alone before a cherry blossom tree, but throughout the passed year people have come to get used to it. Passing civilians could only give the Uchiha a passing glance before continuing in their mindless gossip about how Team 7 was doomed to fail with that exhaustibly tardy pervert of a sensei, the lone avenging Uchiha, and a loudmouth Jinjuriki.

"_Poor Sakura was bound to fall on the deep end of things eventually."_

Their words caused Sasuke to snap out of his thought to give them a darkening glare. Stiffening in fear the old lady that had spoken the words quickly scampered to escape the threatening gaze. With empty satisfaction, Sasuke returned his attention to the tree before him. There was nothing exquisite or out of place about this piece of nature to the _naked eye. _

This cherry blossom tree, with its fragile pink petals flowing through the breeze, was an unofficial memorial to the deceased Harunos.

Onyx eyes closed recalling a lost memory.

"_Kaa-san! Aniki isn't on duty, but he won't play with me!" a young Sasuke complained a pout upon his lips while he struggled to carry a bag of groceries they had just attained after shopping. _

_The older woman smiled softly kneeling before her youngest son. She combed through his hair affectionately. "Itachi-chan has many things he needs to do, but so little time to do it. Give your brother some time. He'll come around, Sasu-chan." She straightened to her full height before allowing Sasuke to take her hand._

_The pout still remained, but he accepted her reasoning without another word. The two continued on their way towards the Uchiha compound. Deciding to take a longer route, Mikoto mused that it would be such a waste of a beautiful day to return early. _

_Sasuke didn't object, not that he would ever admit that he loved spending time with his mother. He squeezed his mother's hand in contentment and felt giddy when she sent a loving smile back in response. _

_This soft exchange was interrupted when Sasuke spotted something odd in his peripherals. Off in the distance there was a young sakura tree that he noticed was just recently planted, but what caught his attention was what sat before the tree. A little girl with pink hair._

_The child was kneeling before the tree, her shoulders shaking. _

"_Kaa-san, why is that girl all alone?" his head tilted in confusion. No one should be alone._

_Mikoto directed her attention towards the object of interest. "I don't know," she said softly her heart reaching out to the girl. As dormant as the pink hair child's chakra was, the older woman could sense that she was in distress almost morbidly so. Her eyebrows knitted together. What could have possibly upset the girl so much?_

_She was snapped out of her thoughtful contemplation when she felt her son release her hand and run towards the girl. She did nothing to stop him._

_Sasuke was more than determined to find out why a little girl was all alone. He knew he hated to be alone, but his kaa-san was always there for him and, sometimes, even Itachi._

"_Oi! Why are you alone?"_

_The little girl let out a startled squeak before she twisted around. All thoughts on Sasuke's mind diminished when he set eyes on shining emerald rimmed with tears. His persistent thoughts returned when she began to speak, "Nothing! I-" with the sleeve of her red shirt she wiped her tears furiously "I'm not alone!"_

_Sasuke frowned taking a quick look around. The only people there were the girl, himself, and his kaa-san off in the distance. "Who?" Her mouth opened only close again. Her bottom lip trembled as more tears appeared on her big eyes. Sasuke tensed in panic. "No! Don't cry," he grasped her shoulders with his small hands, "please don't cry!"_

_She whimpered before ducking her face away from his eyes. "I'm s-sorry. I don't mean to cry." _

_Sasuke frowned even more not quite sure how to deal with a crying girl. He was tempted to just run away, thoughts about pink haired crying girls with pretty emerald eyes pushed to the back of his mind. _

"_Sasu-chan," a hand pressed against his small back, "don't worry." He looked up at his mother with confused eyes. She only smiled back before kneeling in front of the girl. She ran a hand through her pink locks. _

_Sakura stared at the older woman with something along the lines of… longing?_

"_Sasu-chan why don't you introduce me?" her voice remained soft her hand continuing to brush the girls tears away._

_He stared at the girl before him. "She hasn't told me her name yet," he mumbled._

"_Then introduce yourself. I know I taught you better," she gently reprimanded him._

"_My name is Uchiha Sasuke, this is my Kaa-san."_

_Teary eyes stared back. "My name is… Sakura."_

_Mikoto brushed her hands though her pink tresses again. "What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. As Sasu-chan said, I am his mother, but you can call me Mikoto," her smile faltered for a moment, "why are you alone?"_

"_Kaa-san! I already asked! She said she was waiting for someone."_

_This perked her interest. "Oh? Is that so, Sakura-chan?"_

_Sakura was hesitant, but she nodded. "Hai… I'm waiting for… my parents."_

Thinking back on it he remembered having to leave Sakura, before her "parents" could come except that they never would. He ran a hand through his tousled dark locks. Pondering upon lost memories weren't going to help. He didn't even know why he returned to this tree nearly every day. He should stop.

But he knew he wouldn't. His return to this exact spot would be imminent regardless of the lack for reason.

A year and a half had passed since he last saw Sakura. Just as he predicted there were no leads on Sakura or Itachi and any attempt to track them was just a cold trail. They didn't want to be found the left nearly nothing to be found. His fist clenched. Except for those _messages._

Sasuke was wise to cooperate within the village. What a foolish decision to seek Itachi on his own. After his trial he was sentence to probation, chakra sealed, no missions for a year. With his chakra returned to him, he spent that passed few months on training to become stronger, but not a day went by when he wondered about that girl with pink hair he had met all those years ago.

But that blurred resigned image of that little girl was always blotted out every time those dead bodies were sent back. They were ANBU who weren't young, but they weren't that old either. They were old enough to be his parents, to be Sakura's parents. Upon further inspection it was discovered that all the deceased had a similar back round. They had all participated in the assassination of Sakura's parents.

It was hazardously clear that Sakura was devoting herself to her journey to revenge, but one question remained on his mind. How far will she go?

He shoved his hands into his pockets. Opening his eyes he took in his outward appearance. He long got rid of the clothing of Sakura's father and donned black pants with its cuffs tucked into his sandals and a sleeveless high collared black shirt. After washing the other clothing he folded them to be put away in the back of his closet were most of Sakura's other personal items remained. Unbeknownst to the other, each member of Team 7 kept items of Sakura's that was hidden in their living space. It gave each male a different sense of self comfort knowing that their female teammate was still out there.

"TEME!" Sasuke cursed the very gods that gave life to such a human. "We've got to go Baa-chan's office!" The silent teen gave no indication that he even heard Naruto. "Are you listening to me?"

"No," he growled.

"Well obviously you are if you replied."

"Go to hell."

"Not before we go to Baa-chan!"

Sasuke sent a glare to the blonde, but Naruto remained unfazed. "What does she want," there was no interest in his tone.

The blonde stood before him, his arms crossed. "You know if you're going to ask, at least sound like you care."

"Tch, I don't." He turned on his heel, fully intent on leaving the blonde and his loud mouth behind to train.

Naruto growled at his back before chasing after him. "You know, I'm getting really tired of this bullshit of an attitude you keep feeding me."

"Deal with it."

"Bastard."

"Dumbass."

"Damn it, Sasuke! For once, why don't you ever listen to anyone else?"

Sasuke finally halted in his steps. "Because I don't have to."

Cerulean eyes narrowed. "What if I said it had to do with Sakura-chan?" Sasuke's back straightened minutely. Naruto would have missed this gesture had he not be looking for some kind of response. "We have a lead on her. This is our chance to get her back and you're turning your back." He let out a humorless laugh, "You were always good at turning on your friends."

Naruto sudden found himself being slammed against a wall, with infuriated Sharingan eyes glaring down at him. Sasuke's grip on his collar was tight. He inwardly smirked knowing which buttons to push to get a reaction out of the stoic teen. Now it was time to crush those buttons.

"Well look at this. Now I have your attention. It's a funny thing really. You only pay attention to us when you attack us."

Sasuke's glare turned murderous. He shoved Naruto against the wall harder once again. "Shut the hell up."

"No," the Kyuubi container slapped Sasuke's hands away from him. "Stop acting like you don't care about her. Stop acting like you don't think about her as often as I do."

"I don't care," Sasuke sneered.

Scoff. "Stop lying to yourself."

"Why should we care when she clearly never did?" It was a lie and both teens knew it. "You say I turned my back on you guys, but I'm here now, aren't I? I stayed! When I could damn well leave and go after them myself. She turned her back on us. She _attacked _us."

The young Uchiha was seething at this point.

"You know what your problem is? We both know you could leave, but the only reason you're not is because, well for one, it's stupid and another is even if Sakura didn't feel anything for you, she still took the time to try and talk some sense into you. You're afraid that if you leave no one's going to care enough to stop you." Crimson eyes darkened. "You just can't accept that you care about her and you're afraid that she doesn't," his words were silent now but Sasuke could hear them clearly.

His grip on Naruto tightened for a moment before he released him. Without another glance he took off.

Naruto stared after his friend noticing that he was heading towards the Hokage toward. He smiled sadly before following after him.

'_Sakura-chan, I wish you could see us now. We need you now m ore than ever. '_

XxXx

Tsunade took in the appearance of the three shinobi that stood before her. The tension was so thick she could almost taste it on her tongue. It was no secret that Team 7 was currently falling apart and not just physically. The bonds between them were strung together so frailly that one wrong move could completely shatter them.

Letting out a frustrated sigh she finally dove into the mission objective.

"I'm sure you know by now that we have a lead on Sakura's whereabouts. We aren't sure if she is accompanied by Uchiha Itachi, but a team of Chunin spotted her in a nearby village. They reported in early today," hazel eyes gave a passing glance towards Shizune beside her," they were heavily injured."

Apprehension fell upon the shoulders of the males. There was no question that Sakura had caused the damage.

"What will you have us do, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi questioned.

"Due to the information given to me, you will be able to intercept Sakura here," she pointed onto a map spread in front of her. "You three are going to retrieve her," she paused, "Dead or alive."

Naruto was the first to break the following silence. "What!"

"Sakura has become a threat to the village the moment she shed the blood of a fellow Konoha ninja. She is a missing ninja and regardless of your history with her, you have your duty to the village to eliminate any possible threats!" Speaking of Sakura's abrupt betrayal never got easier and it always took its toll on the blonde woman.

Silence fell again. Tsunade sighed. "Look, I chose you three because you have a higher chance of bringing her back alive."

Kakashi nodded, "We understand."

"You will depart ASAP. Dismissed."

XxXx

Kakashi stood facing the stone of the K.I.A. His dark eye held only sadness and regret. On it was every name of every person that Kakashi ever cared for. He didn't want another name on it. He didn't want to see _Haruno Sakura _engraved into it. He wouldn't fail this time. He swore to protect his team never to leave them behind. A sigh left his covered lips.

_Because those who abandon their team are worse than trash. _

Forty minutes later, the three shinobi met at the gates. This mission would decide Sakura's fate, hopefully for the best. Naruto stared at his hands. He was going to have to inflict pain on her if she resisted. How strong had she gotten? Naruto clenched his fist. This was appearing to become more complicated the more he thought about it.

Sasuke adjusted his Kusanagi that was strapped onto his back. He hoped that he wouldn't have to use it against Sakura again. Last time he managed to avoid any fatal attacks, but now he would need to attack her with the intent to kill.

And he wasn't so sure he would be able to do it.

He closed his eyes to reminisce the old days where everything seemed fine and he had experienced some sense of contentment. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura were important to him despite the way he easily disregarded them. He wouldn't lose them to him, Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke wrinkled his nose in disgust at the name, his own blood. He wouldn't let Itachi take Sakura or anyone else away. He would die before that happened.

"Ready?" Kakashi spoke.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled raising his arms up.

"Aa."

In a blink of an eye they were gone.

XxXx

They had been traveling for two hours, the only sound that could be heard was their sandals against bark as they jumped from branch to branch, their breathing calm and in sync.

A sense of foreboding crawled up Sasuke's spine. Kakashi must have felt it too for he signaled for them to halt and one by one they landed on different branches a reasonable distance away from each other. All was calm, but instinct screamed otherwise.

Sasuke reached over his shoulder his fingers brushing the hilt of his sword ready to be drawn at a moments notice. Then there was noise. All three vanished to hide their presence in the shadows of the trees. The sound of a person, no two people, walking could be heard. Odd, Sasuke thought. The environment around them was tense and even a civilian could sense that something was amiss. His eyes narrowed, yet the sounds of the footsteps were calm, unwavering. Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing. They wanted to be found.

There was a spark of chakra, and Sasuke clenched his sword while gritting his teeth. He knew that chakra. _Itachi. _Sasuke sought for Kakashi's confirmation, who was hidden a ways off. His former sensei gestured towards him. _Cease attack. _Sasuke messaged back: _They know we're here. _The silver hair jonin nodded his head. He knew as well. To his right Naruto signaled in his own way: _SAKURA-CHAN! _

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Damn dumb blonde.

With his back firmly pressed against the tree he looked below him to find that two figures adorning the red clouds of Akatsuki stood patiently beneath them. It would be useless to do a surprise attack when the element of surprise was long gone. Their enemies were expecting them.

Sasuke returned his gaze to Kakashi almost desperately. His reply: _go._

And with that all three appeared, crouching before the other two.

Although they already knew who their opponents were the appearance of the two remained a mystery due to the straw obscuring their faces. But there was not a doubt on their mind that the smaller figure of the two was Sakura.

Naruto's body shook finally absorbing this new piece of information that screaming in his face. "Why? Why are you with them Sakura-chan?" the hurt in his voice was evident, "Why are you with the bastards that have been trying to capture me?"

The smaller figure lifted her head, revealing dark eyes. "That is none of your concern."

"Of course it is!" He took a step forward.

"Naruto, calm down and stay put," Kakashi commanded. One of his worse fears was released. Sakura had fully defected from Konoha and had joined Akatsuki, but why? He voiced his question aloud.

"Kakashi," she acknowledged, "It was the only way."

It was the only way for her to be able to kill the ANBU squad that was responsible for her misfortune.

"I see," the older man spoke getting into a fighting stance.

"Damn it," Naruto hissed following his team leader's stance. They had no choice but to clash in combat. Through the pain of betrayal he felt a new burning determination. The same determination he felt the last time he fought her. He would bring her home at all cost.

Sasuke paid no heed to the conversation, he eyes glancing from Itachi to Sakura. He had his mission and had his goals. But which one was priority? They hadn't expected Sakura to remain with Itachi let alone join him. He inwardly cursed as he followed suit among his team.

In response to the imminent oncoming battle, both Akatsuki members reached for their straw hats and dropped them to lie on the ground.

Sakura's face remained unchanged, impassive her hitai nowhere to be seen. Her long pink hair was pulled back into a bun, a senbon securing it. Sasuke duly noted that she would most likely use it as a weapon when unexpected.

Keeping her eyes upon her opponents she slowly undid her cloak allowing it to fall to her feet. She was clothed with her chest bindings that only had one strap that went over one shoulder and a mesh shirt over it. Her black pants were tucked into her usual boots. On her waist sat her hitai a clean scratch running through it and on the rear of her waist a tanto, a small katana.

Sakura finally spoke out to them. "I know why you're here, and I'm telling you this now," she pulled her gloves on, "I'm not coming back." There was only a moment to register that Itachi had taken off before she punched the ground.

Before the ground shattered Kakashi disappeared to intercept Itachi.

"Damn!" Naruto yelled as he jumped aside to gather his footing. Sakura was trying to separate them and it worked. He couldn't make anything out through the cloud of dust. Naruto barely managed to make out the sound of soaring shuriken before it embedded in the tree where his head had been. His hands positioned into a hand sign to commence his shadow clone jutsu, but after a thought he decided against it. The worst way to approach Sakura in battle was through hand to hand combat. "I hate close range fighting!" he shouted exasperated to no one in particular.

Naruto got into a defensive position and waited for her next attack. His eyes darted wearily from side to side in anticipation, but no attack came. He perked his ears to listen around him and could distinctly hear the battle cries of Sasuke and Sakura. He cursed. "Man! Even in battle you two _still _ditch me!" and then he took off.

Sakura conjured up chakra scalpels to deflect Sasuke's attacking Kusanagi. She recalled the technique in his blade. The manipulation of his chakra allowed him to sharpen the blade dangerously to cut through nearly everything and it widened its cutting range. She figured she could counteract against it and balance the attack with her own blades of chakra. Burst of chakra became frequent with every contact the two made.

When Sasuke made to slice through her shoulder she caught the blade easily between her glowing palms. They two remained at a stalemate. Dark eyes met and a smirk crawled onto the female's lip. Increasing the flow of chakra to gather in her hands, she took a step forward and with accurate precision she released the chakra causing Sasuke to stumble back. It was the only opening she needed before reaching for his wrist to throw him to the ground.

Sakura pinned him down with his arm against his back. "You didn't think I'd go easy on you, did you, Sasuke-_kun_?" She asked in mock sweetness.

He gave a humorless chuckle, "Actually, I did." Using his raw force that easily overpowered Sakura he pushed against her so that she landed on her back _hard. _

Not allowing even a second of an opening she quickly release her hold on Sasuke and rolled over so that she was on all fours. She pushed against her limbs to gain distance away from Sasuke, but to her surprise as she righted herself back on her feet, Sasuke was behind her drawing her katana against her neck. "Give up, _Sa-ku-ra,_" he whispered in her ears.

His warm breath brushed softly against her bare neck and Sakura was surprised that she had to physically suppress a shiver of… something she'd rather not think about at this moment.

"Don't get cocky," she growled before doing the splits to slip out of his grasp. Using her legs she maneuvered herself into a crouched and withdrew two more katana from her boots. She smirked while Sasuke appraised her carefully.

"You've created a liking to weapons," he stated.

"Yeah, especially since I'm going to kick your ass with them!" and she lounged at him.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the challenged, but quickly dove into combat using one of her own katana against her. He was quickly surprised by just how skilled she was with a blade… or two, he noted with annoyance as she nicked his skin with her second blade after he maneuvered away from the first. She was quick and nimble, her attacks flowing together in a sense of familiarity.

It didn't help that she would put extra force behind her attacks with the help of her super strength. Damn that Hokage woman for ever teaching Sakura how to lift a rock.

Needing to end this engagement of blades he quickly manipulated her attack against her to agilely disarm her. The two katana flew out of her grasp one after the other. Sakura's eyes darkened even more in anger. "I've had enough games," she sneered as her hands glowed with blue chakra. Sasuke's grip on the katana tightened. He wasn't sure what she was up to and it made him weary. Without the knowledge of her next attacks he wouldn't know if he should block or dodge.

Her glowing hands formed a familiar sequence of hand signs before she went in for the attack. Sasuke could only curse as his attention was forced on the girl before him fully knowing a shadow clone was somewhere in their presence. A flare of chakra beside him and he squatted down to pivot a sweeping kick at the clones feet. It dispersed on contact, but before he could recollect himself Sakura saw all her opening. She struck several of points of his body. When her combination was complete she leapt away.

Sasuke fell to the ground his body convulsing almost violently. "What the hell did you do?" He said through gritted teeth.

"I'm a medic. You made the mistake in forgetting that. I pinpointed your pressure points with my chakra. You won't have feeling in your arms for awhile."

"Damn it, Sakura," he growled his face pressed against the ground, "You're as annoying as Kabuto was."

There was a moment of silence before she let out an empty laugh. "That's a funny thing coming from you. Even before all of this happens I was just always annoying, wasn't I?" She sounded thoughtful before another round of hollow laughs left her mouth. Sasuke could only see her black sandals as she stood within his sight. She crouched down before him and ran her hand through his raven locks. "You know… you and Itachi look very similar…" he growled, "But his hair is softer." Her grip squeezed slightly tugging his hair before she pushed his face harder against the ground.

"Damn it, Sakura-chan!" another voice called. Sakura lifted her eyes away from Sasuke to see Naruto. His chest rose and fell roughly; he was slightly out of breath. "Cut it out! I'm tired of seeing you this way!"

Sakura rose to her full height before tilting her head. "What way?" she asked curiously.

"You... you're starting to live for the kill," he glanced down at his currently incapacitate teammate, "That's no way to live a life."

She sighed, "Naruto… you… don't entirely understand what I'm going through," she nudged Sasuke with her foot, he snarled at her, "What we go through. Yes, you speak noble words, but… it's just not enough!"

"Well killing people isn't going to bring them back!" Sakura glared at Naruto her body heating up in anger.

"It was never about that, Naruto. Those are juvenile thoughts. Of course they're not coming back, they're dead." Her fist clenched.

Naruto's blue eyes saddened. "Then why do this? What's the point?"

Sakura clenched her eyes and turned away, but she had no answers.

She was confused, she didn't know where to go from here, but she was positive that she didn't want to go back to that village. Her resolve hardening she turned her eyes back towards him. "It doesn't matter! I'm not coming back!"

His voice lowered with regret, "Fine… then we'll have to do this the hard way." A shadow clone appeared beside him, chakra swirling in his palm.

"Rasengan!" and then he charged at her. Sakura leapt back to create distance between them, but she didn't nothing else. His body tensed. He didn't want to hurt her!

Everything seemed to move in slow motion now. His heart echoed in his ears, his body hot with his flowing chakra swirling around him. His full focus was on the pink haired kunoichi before him. The distance between them lessened with every step and with every step thoughts of stopping the attack crossed his mind. His Rasengan could kill her!

No! Sakura-can is strong enough! She has to be…

The distance closed. Naruto shut his eyes. He didn't want to see the outcome. He didn't want to see Sakura cripple in pain.

There was a burst of charka and his eyes to shoot open only to widen even more when he was met with the sight of some kind of chakra shield. The shield was light blue, pulsing against his Rasengan. The force of attack and defense grinded against each other with building tension Naruto's jaw dropped in shock.

The blonde could feel that it was Sakura's doing, but what exactly was she doing? He could vaguely see her through the chakra field. Dark eyes glared back, but she was biting her lip in concentration. She held her hands out in the tiger seal.

Naruto was in too much shock to realize that she began pushing him back, his own attack starting to dissipate.

Sasuke's face froze in shock and amazement. He activated his Sharingan so he could fully understand the mechanics of Sakura's defense. The amount of chakra emitting from the two was reaching dangerous, fascinating levels. He watched the flow of her chakra as she was equally distributing them into specific Tenketsu.

Tenketsu were pin points of the chakra circulatory system where chakra can be released. One's chakra flow can be increased or decreased by manipulating these Tenketsu. Only the Hyuuga clan was known to be able to manipulate Tenketsu so easily. This technique is high level and potential dangerous for it could permanently damage one's flow of chakra.

It honestly didn't surprise Sasuke that Sakura was able to master this type of chakra manipulation. She had exquisite control of her chakra. By storing up her charka in specific points of her body in such little time, she was able to release a steady flow, allowing herself to be physically immersed in her own energy.

A burst of energy from Sakura fully dispersed Naruto's attack and with another it sent him flying through the air.

Sakura released the tiger seal as the field around her faded. She stumbled back feeling light-headed. A light sheen of sweat could be seen on her body; her chest rose and fell with her pants. Maintaining the massive amount of charka took nearly all the strength in her body. She was lucky to be standing at this moment. But she didn't have time for lucky. Quickly pulling her back straight she composed herself. No one would have been able to tell that the recent exertion was taking its toll on her had she not been sweating.

Sasuke looked towards the blonde to see that he was out cold. He huffed out in frustration before closing his eyes in concentration. Recalling some of the medical jutsu Kabuto taught him, he quickly sent his chakra throughout his body to heal his torn muscles. Who would have thought the sick sound medic nin would have come in handy in the end?

Satisfied that Sasuke could finally move his arms he raised to his feet, albeit with a struggle. His arms twitched occasionally, but after a few seconds they settled. Good. He needed to regain his physical strength. Sakura was at her weakest right now, and this was the perfect opportunity to overpower her.

The two clashed going hand to hand against each other. Sakura cursed lightly upon releasing she was too weak to focus her chakra for her super strength. No need. No logical ninja should depend on one single technique to win.

Sasuke caught her fist in his palm and threw her over his shoulder. Sakura quickly recuperated and gracefully landed on her feet. She withdrew a kunai from her holster and Sasuke did the same. Diving for the other, their weapons let out a spark of protest due to the brute force the two were using.

Sakura pushed forward with her arms causing Sasuke to take a step back. She used this moment to her advantage as she reached for the senbon that held her hair. Pink locks fell along her back, but she made no notice, twisting the weapon in her hand to launch it at Sasuke's head. He easily deflected it with his kunai knife. It spun in the air for a moment as he reached, pivoting on his heel to build momentum he flicked his wrist sending it right back at Sakura.

She threw her kunai to intercept the projectile of the weapon the senbon refracted off in the distance. Due to the difference in mass and weight the kunai continued in its path towards Sasuke. He threw his own in response. A 'clang' resonated on impact. Sakura then appeared in a crouch behind Sasuke before sending a sweeping kick towards him. He flipped over landing at a distance only to be met with a cloud of shuriken. Noticing his Kusanagi happened to be conveniently next to him he grabbed for it and deflected the weapons. They bounced off, but suddenly exploded into shrapnel that pierced Sasuke's body.

He groaned out at the piercing pain overcoming his body. "What the hell," he muttered before falling to his knees.

"The shuriken was infused with my chakra. The tension caused them to explode on impact," Sakura spoke out quietly. "It's a nasty trick, but oh so very effective." Sasuke stabbed his sword in to the ground to use it as support as his breaths turned into pants. A moment later and he couldn't move his body. "Of course, adding paralysis into the equation never turns out well," she glanced down upon him, "or at least, in your case."

Sasuke's eyes clenched shut as he collapsed forward, but Sakura caught him in her arms before he could hit the ground. She cradled his face to her chest in mock affection. "We've gone a long way since we were twelve," she whispered softly, "It's was such a shame when you left for Orochimaru, but I think I can finally relate to you. The strength and power you seek could not be found on your own so you sought to find an easier path to it. In your case," she brushed his dark locks away from his face her fingers lowering to trace the curse mark, "this… was your downfall."

Sasuke only closed his eyes losing the strength to argue. Being in this close proximity to Sakura he couldn't help, but breathe in her scent. Sweet strawberries. Her warmth engulfed him in a sense of calm that he hadn't felt in years, but he trance was broken when she spoke again.

"Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for you, our _teammates_ are returning." Sakura sighed in disappointment. "I should kill you now." Taking his face between her hands she pulled him so he could look in her eyes. "You seek revenge." she whispered. Sasuke said nothing. "You want to kill Itachi. You can. I can see that you can."

"What are you to say I can or cannot," Sasuke hissed. Sakura tsk-ed at him.

"It wouldn't be wise to provoke me when you're under my mercy. I could damage your vocal cords preventing you from ever speaking again," she thought for a second. "Not like that would affect you, you can't even speak as it is. I could cut through your jugular right now and kill you instead." Her smile was empty.

Sharingan eyes narrowed on her, but inside he felt weary. He didn't like to see this side of her. Sakura wasn't made for killing. If her soft touches said anything, it said that she was made to love everyone. Her life was simply misguided. Sasuke searched deep inside her dark eyes. He wanted to see the little girl that spoke to him all those years ago. That little girl with emerald eyes was still somewhere in the depths of Sakura's soul, but he couldn't find her! The Sakura that sat before him was so clouded with hatred that she couldn't even see what was right in front of her.

"Sakura," he whispered, "What do you sought out for? Who do you wish to inflict pain on?" Sakura looked at him thoughtfully.

"I want to inflict pain on those who used me when I was a child. I want to inflict pain on those who just deemed it so damn convenient that I was orphaned and I was your age. I am angered that my own _beloved village," _She spat, "killed my family. They killed the only people who ever loved me." Resolve set into her eyes as she pushed Sasuke to his knees. He could only rest against her pathetically as she maneuvered him. With her index finger to his forehead she sent a pulse of chakra through him causing him to fall back.

Sakura rose taking steps away from him "Get on your feet." Sasuke wiped the blood that slid out of his mouth dark satisfaction coursed through him with the regained control of his limbs. "We are going to fight again." Sasuke looked at her with no emotion. "Today we will decide who lives and who dies. Today is your chance to prove that you are strong enough to bring me _home_. Today we will find out if you are strong enough to defeat your beloved brother." Sasuke rose to his feet as Naruto and Kakashi jumped beside him.

Naruto was surprised to find his former sensei standing before him, the copy ninja looking beat up and weakened. "Where's Itachi?" he asked while looking for said person frantically.

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi breathed out. "Our priority is Sakura."

Blonde eye brows furrowed. His words sounded like an excuse, but he pushed the thought aside turning his body towards Sakura. A year and a half. He waited a long time for this. He was not going to fail her. He was going to save her. He glanced at Sasuke. He didn't know what the Uchiha could be thinking, but Naruto knew that he had to get Sakura back for him.

"Sakura," Naruto didn't say the suffix and Sakura noticed. She raised an eyebrow. "We're going to take you home half- dead or not! We'll drag you if we have to!" Sakura smirked before stomping the ground with her chakra. The three males had to disperse to avoid being crushed by the crumbling ground.

The fight continued on for a few moments before Sasuke found himself growing weaker. The paralysis still lingered in his body and it hindered his movements. His attacks were sluggish at best. Naruto on the other hand was struggling with his own resolve. With every punch and kick it was getting harder and harder to keep their objective on his mind.

"Sakura," Naruto gasped out clutching at the wound in his stomach due to her chakra scalpels. Blood leaked through his fingers for a moment before the Kyuubi's chakra healed the wound closed.

Kakashi was also struggling. His earlier battle left him drained of chakra and his mind confused. Itachi's cryptic words reverberated in his mind.

_Breaking the girl is necessary._

What could the elder Uchiha mean? Did he literally mean causing harm on Sakura? Or something else?

Kakashi felt the stiffness of his muscles. He was pushing himself to his limits, and Sakura was too much to be overpowered at this rate. Once she blocked an attack, she would push them back and dodge the other. This fight wasn't about strength, it was a battle of tactical planning and Sakura was always a smart girl. She intentionally separated them so that they couldn't gang up on her. She knew that individually she could match up to each male, but together she could easily be defeated.

Inwardly he was very proud of Sakura in the sense of ninja instincts. She was able to accept the faults of her strategy to conjure up a defensive plan that was becoming more effective offensively.

"Sakura," Naruto pleaded out again. "Come home." Sakura spit out blood.

"Why should I go to the one place that I thought I could trust? They lied to me since I was four! Do you know how it feels to be lied to your whole life?"

Naruto took a step forward at the hysterical girl. "Sakura, come home with us. We are your new family. We never lied to you. Me, Kakashi, Sasuke… we are your family."

" Ha! That's a funny thing really. I was used for him!" She pointed menacingly at Sasuke. Because of him I'm here…" she trailed off. Sasuke grimaced.

"Sakura," he began. Said girl glared at him. "… I'm sorry that your life turned out the way that it did, but what difference does it make now if you kill? What will change? Nothing you do will make a difference. Please come back," his voice emitting a small pleading tone.

Sakura's bloodshot eyes tore through him before she fell to the ground.

Sasuke flash stepped to catch her in his arms and felt a familiar burst of chakra. Sakura screamed. His calculating eyes took in her form before he pulled her against him to look upon the seal on her back. Kanji of sadness was glowing.

_**Don't listen to him.**_

Sakura clenched her eyes shut and squeezed her head between her hands. Her head was hurting so much! She didn't even realize that she was curling deeper into Sasuke's embrace because of the pain that was convulsing through her so violently.

_Who are you? What do you want?_

_**It doesn't matter. Don't listen to that traitor.**_

Sakura let out a cry of pain. What was going on?

_**He's lying when he says nothing can change. When you kill you get the feel of victory. You are avenging your wrongfully deceased parents. You kill for them.**_

_But he understands. And he's right! Killing never did any good! It's what started all of this!_

_**NO! Listen to me!**_

_Get out of my head! Who are you any way?_

_**I am your anger, you hatred.**_

_I don't want to hate anymore. _

_**You can't ignore you're emotions.**_

_I have no emotions! GET OUT!_

Her body ached, every muscle in her body protesting against her will. She whimpered as she looked into Sasuke's eyes. _What's happening? _her eyes were asking. Sakura sobbed into Sasuke. Her chest squeezed painfully, a lump in her throat developing. What was this feeling? It made her sick. All she wanted to do was cry out and curl into the fetal position. This feeling… is this what they call grief?

Sasuke stared at crumbling girl in his arms. He vaguely heard Naruto shouting his concerns and Kakashi's commanding tone for the blonde to _shut the hell up._ But those thoughts were forgotten when he looked into her eyes. They were emerald. Not dark and empty, but were dull and green, but they held something he hand never seen before in her eyes. Sadness, grief, regret. He pulled her closer to him his cheek pressed against her hair. When he felt wetness through his shirt his grip tightened as realization hit him. The seal of sadness was broken.

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A/N: Since I originally wrote this story when I was about...fourteen, my abilities at writing were crude and amateur at best, but when I read through it I couldn't help but LAUGH at my own writing. My thoughts were along the lines of: _OMG THIS IS JUST TOO GOOD_ or _This makes no sense... I can't believe people didn't criticize me._

I'm sure you guys did, but were too kind to actually do so. I appreciate that, but for a writer to improve they must be exposed to constructive criticism.

Sooo lots of love to you guys out there! And please review.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I think I mutilated the english language with the original... that's the last time I do a prologue (which I deleted long ago).

Standard disclaimer applies

Revising/Reconstruction complete: 7/26/11

Repost:7/27/11

* * *

**Chapter 9**

There were many days in Kakashi's life where he wished he could just hide himself away with his Icha Icha novels so he could read to his content. Today was one of those days.

_Breaking the girl is necessary._

What did that mean? His mismatched eyes stared down at his team his focus only on the lone female. Break…

Killing Sakura was not necessary (or so Itachi had said), so the words weren't literal. Did he mean emotionally perhaps? Eyes narrowed. If he meant it emotionally then they were well on their way with completing that. Sakura's seal... was slowly breaking apart. What was Itachi's plan?

A heart wrenching sob broke Kakashi out of his revere.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out frantically as he rushed to the pink haired girl. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened. One moment she was as ruthless as ever and now she seemed to crumble right before them. He knelt beside his two friends and took her hand in his. Her sobs seemed to reverberate throughout the whole battle field and Naruto couldn't help but notice that her cries actually _pained _him.

Before the retrieval mission of Sasuke, she had appeared before him, crying her heart out begging for Sasuke's return. But those tears were nothing compared to the ones falling from her eyes right now. Sakura seemed to finally be expressing her pain.

Tears blurred her vision her throat was hoarse due to her broken sobs. She clutched at her chest, fingers squeezing the material she wore. She could feel her heart beating erratically, but she felt empty. She watched as tears fell against her hand. Damn it. She was never supposed to cry.

The surface against her face shook. It took her a moment to remember that she was currently curled up to Sasuke's chest and that he was trying to talk to her.

"Sakura, look at me." She easily complied not having the strength to refuse. "You need to come back with us. You're unstable. Your seal is slowly falling apart. Akatsuki can't help you, but we can."

She seemed to struggle with getting words out of her mouth.

"I can't," she finally managed.

"What's holding you back?" He looked at her sharply, his hands squeezing her shoulders.

His words seemed to echo in her mind. She stared at the Sasuke speechless with no answer. What _was _holding her back? Squeezing her eyes shut she tried to pull away from him, but he held her. Her head shook side to side frantically in refusal to answer. This wasn't how things were suppose to happen. She was supposed to show the leaf village her fury. She hated Konohagakure. She despised them with all her being, but now she couldn't find that hatred for them anymore. It was… gone.

"No, please, stay away," she shoved against Sasuke. Deciding it best to not force her he dropped his arms to his sides. She made to stand on her feet, but in her weak state she stumbled. Naruto quickly reached out to make sure she didn't fall. Grasping her elbows he steadied her, but she made no move that she noticed.

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke as he walked to her. "We have to take you back to Konohagakure. It's our mission." She shook her head. Her long pink hair swinging from left to right. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"I can't, I won't go back to them," more tears ran down her eyes. Naruto's heart reached out for her. "Th-they betrayed my trust. I-I can't go back!" Her eyes opened to finally look at them. "They say ignorance is bliss. It's true… My own guardian, s-she killed them, too. They placed the ANBU captain that led the assassination as my guardian! Do you think I can actually accept that? I thought… I could trust. I can't, no… not again…" she mumbled as she slid to the ground Naruto following her.

Kakashi said nothing as he watched Sakura lose herself in her own pain. Every word she spoke was true. At some time in the past year and a half, the Godaime debriefed him on the details and members of the assassination after the first killed ANBU returned. What a disgrace. He could only wonder what went through the Sandaime's mind when he arranged this.

Naruto embraced Sakura as more tears fell from her face. He always swore to protect her, but he all he could do was watch helplessly as the girl in his arm shook with her tears.

"Kaa-san. Tou-san…" she mumbled surprising all three simultaneously, "I miss you so much."

Sakura was forgotten when they sensed another presence among them. Sasuke was the first to react. "Itachi," he seethed with repressed hatred hands poised for a jutsu.

"You are weakened by your battle with the girl. Don't even bother to fight me. You will lose."

Reluctantly Sasuke obliged. It was true, he was not at his best at the moment. He clenched his fist so tightly it drew blood. He was so damn tired of letting him go all the time!

Itachi looked at the kunoichi. Her gaze stared towards the ground not really seeing. "Kunoichi, we must leave now."

Naruto stood and blocked her way, arms spread out.

"Over my dead body! She won't go with you!"

Sharingan eyes blazed at him. "You are lucky that we are not in need of the Kyuubi at this current time. I can easily overpower you and take you as well. So silence yourself."

Naruto remained unfazed, but whipped around when Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder.

Sakura looked at Naruto through her bangs. "I have to."

"No! We're not letting you go this time!"

But Sasuke's words were the only one she heard.

"What is your purpose?"

Her eyes became downcast. Hell if she should know. She could barely comprehend all the negative emotions running wild within in her. Was it not enough that she suddenly felt that her purpose in life was just empty. She felt empty.

Eyes hardened, her solve strengthened. "Revenge."

Revenge… Revenge was keeping her from the village… just like Sasuke. Sasuke stood facing his brother. The purpose of his life was standing before him. He could understand Sakura's stubbornness. He no longer tried to convince Sakura to stay. He would be a hypocrite if he tried.

"Sakura," Itachi spoke with a demanding voice, "Come."

"Hai." She disappeared in a swirl of leaves only to reappear on Itachi's side donning her cloak, straw hat in hand.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto glared the elder Uchiha smirked back.

The girl looked into his eyes and shook her head. She spoke purposefully avoiding his pleading gaze.

"Naruto, I have to if I'm going to complete my goal."

"What goal?" He cried, "There's no one left for you to kill!"

Her eyes snapped to meet his, her gaze unwavering. "You want to become Hokage and I never questioned it. So leave me to do mine. You beg because you claim you need me. You do not. You do not need me to complete your life. If you have forgotten," her voice turned dark directed at Sasuke, "I was nothing but a baby sitter for you. You do not know me. You will never know me. So you will return to Konoha empty handed again."

Her words were harsh, but this needed to be done. With strength she never realize she had she force her voice to remain strong. "This is where we part ways. This is where our bonds end."

Naruto froze. '_No. No! Not again!' _he repeated in his mind. She can't leave them. She has to come back.

Sasuke stared at the girl. His insides were churning, twisting in all directions with her words. She wasn't going to come back regardless of how much Naruto begged her. He kept his face straight but inwardly he began to contemplate her words. There was something holding her back. Her words lack true conviction. He didn't believe her. He didn't believe a word she said.

But whether or not the truth fell from her lips, he would not let her severe the bonds she had ith them.

Naruto was ready to make hand signs. He wasn't about to let the mission fail if he could do anything about it.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" he called out. Ten Naruto's appeared and charged at Itachi.

"Naruto, don't!" Kakashi yelled chasing after the blond.

"Naruto!" Sasuke growled as he picked his sword up and sprinted towards Itachi.

'_That Dobe! Does he want to be killed?' _Sasuke fumed.

Sakura pulled out a kunai ready to defend herself and Itachi, but her hands shook. She cursed. In the state that she was in, she didn't think she can handle them as she did before.

Itachi place a hand atop of hers lowering her weapon. "No… I will handle them."

She held her protests in. Panic began to rise in her. Itachi would surely kill them!

Itachi pulled out a kunai of his own five shadow clones appeared. Two attacked the Narutos and the others individually attacked the remaining ninja.

Sakura stood on the sidelines frozen in her spot. She may have to break the bonds with them, but she just can't bear to see them die. Her body went numb as images of a cold, unmoving Naruto crossed her mind. She cringed. An image of bloodied Kakashi made her body shake. Sasuke kneeling before Itachi in defeat his Kusanagi in Itachi's hand lifting his chin.

'_NO!' _The images vanished from her mind. She can't let this happen. If she did she would never be able to live with herself. The regret… grief.

She pulled her body to her full height her only option clear in her mind. There was only one way that will allow everyone to survive. She would have to make it convincing, but then afterwards…

She turned her face to the side painfully. She wouldn't think about it now. Fist clenched. It was the only way.

At least now… she would have a purpose. She will kill with purpose!

Her body shot up when she heard Naruto yell out. Her eyes darted around for the blonde. He was flying back from a kick in the stomach from Itachi. Sakura winced when Naruto made contact with a rock her medic ears picking up the distant sound of ribs being broken. Before he could gather himself up again Itachi reached for him.

_This has got to stop!_

"Itachi!" Her voice was stern unwavering with a hint of burning anger. All the clones halted in their attacks, but made no move to look at her. "Enough. Leader doesn't need the Kyuubi yet. There is no reason to beat them to an inch of their lives."

"You have a valid point. My apologies, I got carried away." Itachi dispersed his clones. The only one that remained was the one that fought against Sasuke, who was currently struggling to stay upright. "We don't need them to be following us. Make sure they don't." Sakura nodded her head once. "Perhaps another time, Otouto." And then he was gone.

Sakura released her breath that she didn't even know she was holding, but she didn't relax yet. She focused her chakra to search for Itachi's presence in case he felt that he should linger.

He was gone.

Turning her full attention on the three she gave the on long glance before making several hand signs. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes to focus her remaining chakra on the jutsu.

For a moment nothing happened.

Then the trees around them began to rustle, at first gently then violently. Leaves began to swirl around the men. Her eyes opened slowly, her voice cracked, "this is where it ends." The leaves darted toward them randomly and with such speed that none could be anticipated. The attacks were swift all the individual leaves engulfed in a light coat of Sakura's chakra. Every contact was able to break skin deep enough to bleed. Naruto made to counteract the swirl of leaves with a Rasengan. Sakura noticed easily and focused a large majority of the attacks to be directed towards him to prevent him from doing so.

A moment too late, Sasuke realized that his movements started to slow, his muscles felt heavy. Why did everything seem to move so fast?

Sakura spoke as if hearing his internal question. "Tsunade-shishou always said I had a knack for poisons," her voice was laced with regret, "in a few minutes all of you will be unconscious. Don't fight it."

Sasuke vision began to blur, his Sharingan receding with the lack of chakra. "Don't do this," he forced out.

"It's necessary, I'm sorry Sasuke." Not able to fight the darkness anymore, he succumbed to it and fell to the ground. Naruto followed soon after, her name on his lips.

Kakashi seemed to be the only one still able to keep his eyes open. "Sakura, why are you doing this?" he barely managed.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei, but Itachi would have killed you. It was the only way," she looked at Sasuke, "He was right, I don't have a reason anymore. I've done some horrible things while in Akatsuki. I've killed many innocent people. So horrible, that I don't think that I should even have the privilege of being able to set foot in the village."

"What will you do now?"

She turned back to her former teacher with seriousness written all over her face.

"To repent for my actions against Konohagakure I'm going to eliminate Akatsuki."

"You'll be killed. You can't do it on your own."

"I'm fully aware of that," she smiled softly, "I will find a way to bring them down. Even if not by my hand, I will find a way to keep Naruto safe."

"They need you."

"And I need this." There was a silent acceptance between the two. "Don't let them know. I don't want them to suffer if I die. Don't tell anyone."

Kakashi nodded. Sakura wiped her tears and appeared behind him striking a pressure point. She watched as he fell to the ground with a soft thud.

_I'm sorry._

The mixed colors of the sun streaked through the tree tops. The animals quieted for the night. Sakura finally allowed her repressed tears to fall. Broken sobs heaved in her chest. It hurt so much. "I guess the beginning of the end is now. I hurt them and in the worst way. I betrayed them."

The pink haired girl sighed as she dragged herself over to the raven haired male. His body unmoving his clothes drenched in his blood and sweat. Cuts and bruises adorned his entire body. Sakura bit her lip as she knelt beside him. With her palms out she quickly healed his cuts and injected the antidote. Satisfied that he was well out of harm's way she stroke his cheek gently. Pink bangs shadowed her eyes a broken smile came to her lips. "Looks like I won't be seeing you again, Sasuke. This is what you want, right?" she whispered to the fallen shinobi. "You always thought I was annoying and weak. Well I guess I finally proved you wrong." She laughed. "Now you know the truth. We are just prone to disaster and heartache. That's what the truth does to people I guess. But I think it's time I put an end to this cycle."

A tear fell.

"This is why I have hurt you, Naruto, and Kakashi and I'm terribly sorry for that."

Lowering her face closer to his she placed a light kiss against his cold lips. She didn't let the contact linger for she didn't deserve a stolen kiss. Her hand grabbed for his limp one. She squeezed it gently, her body beginning to shake, before she let it return to its original place upon the forest floor. Standing up she quickly injected Naruto and Kakashi with the same antidote mending their wounds while soft whispers of good bye reached deaf ears.

Feeling that her work was done, she turned her back on them.

"S-Sakura-chan."

Sakura's footsteps did not falter, but inside her heart stuttered.

_It's for best..._

"Please don't go. Our team needs you... Sasuke needs you... please."

"I'm sorry, Naruto" she squeezed through gritted teeth. She didn't know if Naruto could hear her, but her words were more for herself to settle her inner turmoil. Knowing that going back was no longer an acceptable option she picked her stride up into a jog building up into a sprint, darting deeper into the woods leaving behind the only family, she now realized, that she truly had. Even being depleted of chakra she continued on and only stopped when she sensed her partner's chakra. Jumping down from the trees she landed in front of Itachi her eyes glaring at him. She had long wiped her tears away. There was no need for him to see how vulnerable she really was. That would be a grave mistake.

"We have another mission."

"Whatever," She brushed passed the older Uchiha without another glance. He said nothing as his Sharingan eyes followed after her. His face remained impassive.

_In due time, you will understand._

* * *

A/N: The ending was entirely (expletive) up! I was actually tempted to slam my face against my keyboard while reading over it (maybe it would slam out better sentences... hm... tempting).

Haha funny fact, I'm listening to Auto-tune's Build a Turtle fence right now lol haha silly politicians.

Review!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I had originally taken a chance with first person point of view with Sakura, but failed... miserably. After another go and with a better understanding of Akatsuki (thanks to Cynchick's story Vertigo. It's an excellent story between Deidara and Sakura. Go read it!) I decided to dive a little deeper in the organization, although how little I will. I'm pretty satisfied with this version and I hope that you will agree with me :)

Enjoy!

Standard Disclaimer applies.

Revision/reconstruction complete: 7/26/11

Repost: 7/27/11

* * *

Chapter 10

Sakura that she would never see the day when she would be found sitting before the S-class missing ninja, the slayer of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi, playing shogi.

And damn it, he just beat her.

_**Shannaro! Let me at him! I'll wipe that smug smirk off his perfect face in no time!**_

Sakura wished she could slam her face against a nearby wall without having to look like she lost her mind. Maybe she did lose her mind

"Is there a problem, Sakura?" Itachi inquired his face stoic, but his eyes sparkling with repressed amusement. He could almost see the inner conflict take place behind Sakura's emerald eyes.

_**Of course there's a problem! Mr. Prodigy thinks he's all great since he beat us twice in a row at this game!**_

Sakura shook her head, "It's nothing just a minor headache." Ignoring the urge to rip her hair out in frustration she reset the board between them for another game.

Ever since her last encounter with her old team where her seal was disrupted again, Sakura had to shamefully face the fact that she was hearing voices in her head. Again, maybe she was insane.

_**You're not insane. **_

_I beg to differ since I'm actually _talking _to myself. I regret the day I actually acknowledged that you exist. _

_**You can't ignore me. I'm you!**_

Sakura twitched at her tone. She sounded too giddy and it unnerved her.

_**Get over yourself, drama queen. **__**I am the essence in your mind that was locked away. So deal with it.**_

A vein in her temple throbbed. Itachi's eyes glanced at her for a moment, and eye brow rose, but resettled as he made his move. She let out a soft breathe. It was getting harder and harder to repress her annoyance physically. Itachi probably thought his partner was about to run around screaming nonsense.

_What are you talking about? What essence?_

_**I don't have to answer you. In fact, I'm not going to, since you're being such a prude.**_

_I am not a prude. If you are what you claim to be, then we must, dare I say, commit to a compromise._

_**A truce you say?**_

_I suppose. You know all my secrets, as it may seem. Now I need to know yours. Though, it is not fair that my thoughts are open to you and not vice versa._

_**Honey, life isn't fair. **_

_Clearly. Now, will you explain?_

_**Shut up. I am an inner Sakura.**_

It was amazing how much will power she possessed to be able to school her expression.

_Inner?_

_**Let me finish. I am the thoughts that you would keep to yourself, too afraid to express them. **_

_You're insane!_

_**You say it like it's a bad thing.**_

_It is a bad thing!_

"Sakura," a smooth voice cut through her thoughts. She took a deep breath the calm inner turmoil.

"Hai, Itachi?"

"I've been trying to obtain your attention for some time. Are you sure you are well?"

Sakura grimaced. "I assure you that I'm quite alright."

He seemed satisfied with her answer for he returned to the task at hand.

Taking a sip of her hot green tea she peered through her lashes at the man who sat before her. Who would have thought that she would one day find herself having a civil conversation while entertaining herself with Itachi? She sure didn't.

Being partnered with him merely meant that she would be spending nearly all her time around him. At first she had been apprehensive, but after some time, she had gotten used to his inability to speak and soon discovered regardless that he had excellent listening skills. He was very intellectual as expected as the Uchiha prodigy and she found herself having very pleasant discussions from time to time.

Attention returning to the shogi board, she took only a moment before making her move. In response Itachi stared at the board before him, his face in deep concentration contemplating how to reply. And who would've thought that this powerful Uchiha would find a small sense of delight at actually being challenged tactically? If she could, she would've probably felt a sliver of joy at being able to find a compromise between them.

Sharingan eyes looked at her expectantly a small smirk on his face. Was this man, the man who had wiped the floor with her in this tactical game, the one who killed his own kin?

Due to personal experience she learned to realize that operatives of ANBU rank were always subjected to strange phenomenon. She wouldn't have been surprised if the cause had something to do with the council. Did Itachi qualify?

For some reason the silence between them began to leave her unsettled. "How long do you expect us to stay here?"

"Until Leader tells us otherwise, we follow his orders."

Sakura scoffed, "Like I couldn't figure that out before."

His crimson eyes darted towards her, "Sarcasm doesn't become you, Sakura."

She rolled her eyes and gestured his comment aside. "You should deactivate your Sharingan. There's no need for it at this moment." He made no move to do so. Her tone made the turn for professionalism. "Uchiha-san, as your medic I demand you cease the chakra flow to your eyes."

A dark eye brow rose and a smirk formed on his lips. "Very well, Haruno-san." Crimson faded to dark grey orbs.

_Arrogant bastard._

It was no longer a secret to her that Itachi's eye sight was diminishing. It took months for her to confirm her theory since Itachi felt the need to get defensive about his sight. She took it upon herself to examine him and made the diagnostic that she couldn't stop the deterioration or repair the damage, but could slow it down. There was no way to keep him from suffering the true fate of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Sakura made to push the bangs that had fallen from her makeshift bun when she felt a gradual numbing feeling coursing through her left hand. Emerald met grey. This wasn't a new occurrence.

Leader was calling them.

Being that Sakura had initially brought down Kisame she donned his Akatsuki ring that sat on her left ring finger, while Itachi's sat on his right ring finger.

Without a word both closed their eyes, breathing calmly through their nose to meditate.

Sakura never got used to the feeling when answering Leader's calls. It felt as if she was leaving her body spiritually. She opened her eyes to only see darkness and the faint blue figure Itachi across from her. In the shadows Leader spoke out, his voice always distorted.

"I have received word that Kakuzu and Hidan have been disposed of by Konoha ninja."

Sakura's eyes widened, the information sinking in. Two more members have been eliminated?

Although her original plan for the Akatsuki had yet to underway she was almost satisfied that those were just two more criminals she didn't have to worry about. In the passed year she had been collecting countless information on her fellow members. She wasn't necessarily collecting data on their weaknesses, more of maneuvers or tactics that could throw their enemy by surprise such as Deidara's ability to see through Genjutsu in his left eye. It was a difficult investigation learning of this fact. She was lucky that she managed to trick this information out of the unstable explosive blonde.

Apparently he doesn't take to well with Genjutsu, especially with any that associated with Itachi. Sakura never knew one to hold such grudges.

"As unfortunate as this finding is, it merely means that Konohagakure is beginning to set out to destroy Akatsuki. I have no mission for the two of you, but the leaf ninja are starting to seek you out. Leave your current position and lose the trail. Understood?"

There was no room for protest (not that she would every day to defy Leader. Despite her reluctance of her crimes, he was a very scary man). Nodding her head in confirmation, Leader dismissed the two of them allowing Sakura to return to her physical state. Finally relaxing she opened her eyes to see Itachi donning his cloak.

"I will leave first towards the west. We will separate and met in two days time in the borders of Konohagakure. I will seek you out." Itachi didn't wait for a reply before heading for one of the exits of their temporary hideout.

Sakura quickly reached for her grey shirt and pulled it over mesh armor. Grabbing for her cloak she headed towards the exit opposite of the one Itachi had taken off to. After a few minutes of walking a gleam of light from the entrance could be seen, but suddenly the ground shook beneath her. Using an arm against the wall to steady herself, she looked around in alarm.

"What the hell?"

The sound of an explosive going off could be heard and then she was engulfed in darkness. A pink eye brow rose. How convenient that the exit had magically closed due to a cave in. She wasn't alone. Sakura thought whether or not it would be better to turn back around to escape through another exit, but that would take too much time. But if she turned now, she could avoid conflict. Thinking better of it, she only let out a long sigh before punching the makeshift wall of rocks with a chakra infused fist. It crumbled easily under her hands. Before the rumble and dirt could completely settle, she used this to her advantage to dart through and conceal herself.

Reaching out with her senses, she tried see if Itachi was still in range of her. She cursed.

_Damn Uchiha always has to leave when needed._

"There's no use concealing yourself," a voice spoke out. She tried to see if there was anything familiar with his chakra or his voice. She found none. Sakura scoffed. If those words had any tone to it, she was sure it would have been haughty.

Deciding to humor this newcomer, she jumped out into the ground her hands within her cloak above her holster. A figure darted down in front of her. Her enemy was clothed in standard ANBU uniform and due to the apparent ANBU tattoo being on their left shoulder indicated that he was male. His porcelain mask concealed his identity.

"Haruno Sakura, S-class missing nin, current member of Akatsuki, you are to be taken under custody and brought back to Konohagakure under orders of the Godaime."

"You speak of redundant information, who are you?"

"That is irrelevant."

A sigh left her lips. "Then let's get this over with." She lowered herself into a battle stance.

Seeing that she was at a disadvantage she decided to allow the ANBU member the first move. Surely this team was fully aware of all her known abilities, but she knew nothing of this man. She quickly glanced behind him trying to seek out his other team members. ANBU rarely did solo retrieval missions with their, her eyes narrowed, objective alive. This team was surely equipped to apprehend her.

One moment she was having a stare down with her opponent and the next she found herself fending of two black… lions?

Sakura cursed as she threw herself out of their reaching claws. Quickly drawing a katana she charged at one easily slicing through it. A dark fluid splashed against her face, but it wasn't blood or flesh. She quickly wiped her cheek with her forearm to inspect the unknown liquid. It was ink.

A growl erupted to her right and she managed to roll aside as the untouched lion dove at her. The lion that she cut in half earlier formed into two more. Never before had she seen anyone use attacks based on ink. She wasn't quite sure of what to make of it, but for now all she could do was dodge as all three lions leapt at her.

Sakura stomped the ground to create an uneven mess of rocks before her that caused to lions to smash against it and disperse. She held her ground even as the ink splattered all over her body.

"This is quite an unfortunate feat to your attack," she drawled with dry humor swiping her katana in the air to rid it of the ink.

"Is that so?" a deep voice said close to her ear. Sakura immediately dropped to a crouch to avoid a kick to the back of her head. Pivoting on her heel she maneuvered her blade to slice through her unexpected opponent, but he quickly disarmed her. With hand glowing with chakra he made to strike at her multiple times. Her eyes narrowed as she swiftly dodged attack after attack. Only a Hyuuga had this ability. She caught sight of long brown hair and she smirked. She never fought against Neji before.

With her own hands glowing with chakra she made to return his gesture and attack him as well. This technique had originally come from the Hyuuga clan when she practiced it, but with her medical knowledge she morphed it to her own abilities.

Chakra clashed against chakra, but neither was hindered.

Sakura took a step back into defense trying to block all of Neji's attacks with the risk of him cutting off her chakra. Seeing the beginning of his Eight Trigram Sixty-four Palm Sakura sent a spark of charka to her feet to create distance between them, but while in the air she was hit by something hard.

Crying out in surprise she soon found herself pinned against the ground by another ANBU ninja, but this one had blond hair. His gloved hands were coated by chakra as they pressed against both her wrist. His legs pushed against her thighs to prevent her from kicking.

"Damn it, Neji, you don't have to use that technique," the man above her shouted. _Naruto?_

"It was a necessary attack that would have easily overpowered her," he simply said, "had she not seen it coming. It would have left her incapacitated and unable to defend herself."

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbled.

Neji's Byakugan seemed to glare through his porcelain mask. "Are you undermining my authority as team captain?" he said lowly.

"Don't get your pretty hair in a twist."

"You shouldn't speak to your superior like that, Dickless." Sakura's eyes darted towards the one who would use such a vulgar insult. His hand reached up to pull his mask to the side of his face. "I don't see the point of wearing this when she clearly knows all of you."

Neji only let out a sigh of frustration.

Sakura was still stun by the sight of the man's face. He looked so much like Sasuke. His eyes and hair had that same dark contrast, but his complexion was pale, his hair short.

"Stop calling me that, Sai!" Naruto growled all the while making sure that he wasn't crushing the girl beneath him, but sturdy enough that she couldn't throw him off. He quickly returned his attention to her with a sad grin. "Hey, Sakura-chan. Fancy seeing you here. Sorry that it had to be in this way."

She only glared back. "Bite me, Naruto."

"Oh, don't tempt."

Neji finally having enough of this smacked the back of Naruto's head. "Focus." With his bloodline still activated he scanned the area. "Where's Uchiha?"

For a moment Sakura that he was asking about Itachi, but Sai answered with a fake smile on his face, "Emo probably went to find a dark corner to cry himself to sleep."

_**This Sai person is such an ass.**_

_Agreed._

"Fuck you, Sai," spoke a baritone voice.

"I don't think I want to," the fake smile stayed on his face as he greeted the fourth member of their team.

Sakura craned her head around in search for the source of that voice. All she could see where his Sharingan eyes the gleamed through the holes of his mask. He was also dressed as an ANBU.

"This is unexpected," Sakura finally said, "I never thought the two of you would be ANBU in such short time."

Naruto's grinned into genuine happiness, "I know!"

"We didn't expect you to be in Akatsuki," Sasuke reminded her darkly.

Emerald eyes stayed on his form. "Harsh."

"Truth."

"Oi! Teme, don't be an ass," Naruto reprimanded in the only way he knew how.

"Shut up! Everyone," commanded Neji, his patience running thin. He turned his gaze at Sasuke, "Any sign of the other Akatsuki?"

Sasuke's fist clenched together. "No."

"Go figure," Sakura said rolling her eyes. So much for losing the trail.

The sound of a sword being drawn caught her attention. She turned her face to the side to find Sasuke point his Kusanagi to her neck. "Do you know where he is?"

Sakura met his question with a glare, "No and I'd appreciate it _greatly_," she said sarcastically, "If you would please refrain from trying to slit my throat."

To her surprise he complied and sheathed his sword.

Taking this moment into her advantage she took in Sasuke's appearance for the first time since their last battle. The striking resemblance between him and Itachi were almost shockingly so, but it wasn't until now that she noticed just how different they looked by appearance. While Itachi's hair was long and had a soft flow to it, as Sasuke's was lighter and very sharp. Sasuke's eyes are onyx as Itachi's contrasted with grey.

_**Why do Uchiha's always have to look so damn good? **_

"Okay, Sakura-chan," she turned her attention to her blonde captor, "I'm going to say this one more time: come home."

She blinked slowly her face wiped clean of any expression. "When will you give up?"

"Never."

A short dry laugh left her mouth. "Don't you get tired of chasing after me?"

His signature grin brightened his face and emotion burning in his cerulean eyes. "It doesn't tire me if I want to do it. I managed to get teme to stay in the village and we both know how much he hates me." Both felt it appropriate to turn their gaze at their other teammate.

"Shut the hell up, dobe."

"See!" his face turned serious. "Sakura, I'm not going to give up."

Her voice was soft, almost broken, "That's what I'm afraid of." And then her body dispersed into a flurry of cherry blossom petals.

The ANBU squad remained impassive almost expected her to escape in such a way. Naruto only sighed before picking himself up. "Here we go again."

Sakura's form restructured in a distance her cloak on the ground. A resigned expression set on her face. Despite her words, she was tired of fighting against them. At this point, all she wanted to do was have them sent away and for Konoha to never look for her again. She was just so tired and whether she wanted to admit it or not...

She missed home. Deep down, she wanted to go back, if only she could...

But she had accepted her fate long ago. Never turn back, she would tell herself, because there's no point.

Whether they beated her to the ground or tired her to the point of near collapse, she wasn't going willingly.

"Come at me."

* * *

A/N: I know this is COMPLETELY different from the original, but as I said, I am thoroughly satisfied this time and I hope that you guys out there are, too.

Plotting out fight scenes are starting to take their toll on me because there is only so much I can do personally.

Review!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Oh yeah, on a roll! But make back is aching so much! ARGH!

Completely rewritten!

Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only the plot.

Revision/reconstruction complete: 7/27/11

Repost: 7/27/11

* * *

Chapter 11

Sakura's voice caused the younger Uchiha's insides to twist and jump in odd ways. It felt like an eternity since he last heard it. How the tables have turned. In the Genin days, he would have given anything just to have the annoying young kunoichi leave him alone. But he found himself yearning to hear her voice as if to reassure him that she was okay that she was really here and _alive. _

Yet again they were given the mission of retrieving dead or alive.

After another passing year of no word or leads of Akatsuki, Naruto almost exploded in expletive when the Godaime had given them the word. Sasuke had to physically restrain the boy to keep his mouth shut so that the elder blonde wouldn't wring her polished fingers around the loudmouth's neck. The last thing they didn't need was for her to think they were unfit for this assignment. He desperately wanted the chance to fight Sakura again to regain his lost pride.

Or so he wanted to convince himself.

Damn it! He could never figure out the empty feeling that surrounded him every time he thought back on the day he held Sakura close in his arms. She felt so warm and solid as if she wouldn't disappear again. But she did and there was nothing they could do about it. This only made his frustration intensify. Why couldn't she just be a regular kunoichi that was still devoted to the village? She was so damn annoying!

Sharingan eyes glared at her almost as if to intimidate her, but it only made her muscles coil in anticipation. She no longer felt any kind of apprehension when looking into the eyes of an Uchiha. She had long gotten used to it after being around Itachi.

Unlike last time she was able to hold her composure together with no worry or fear that she would suddenly burst out in tears, but she wasn't sure if she could cause harm to Naruto or Sasuke again (although she wouldn't mind giving the look-alike a few concussions and maybe a snap of a bone or two).

"Sakura-chaaaan, (was Naruto whining?) don't make us go through this again!"

Leave it to Naruto to speak so casually of this. She contemplated his words. Maybe he had finally learned to accept that she wouldn't come back willingly. About damn time!

"Yeah, stop being annoying," her eyes snapped towards Sasuke and his redundantly used adjective.

A vein in her temple popped out. Pointing her index finger at him she growled out, "Keep your comments to yourself, Uchiha!"

_**That. Little. Fucker.**_

_You have such a terrible way with words._

_**Why thank you!**_

_It wasn't a compliment…_

Sasuke smirked in amusement.

"Wipe that smirk off your face before I wipe the floor with it!"

"Is that a challenge?"

"You're damn right it is."

Naruto stood there staring between his two best friends barely able to contain his annoyance. He almost had the urge to stomp his foot. "Quit leaving me out!"

Almost simultaneously all four spoke out, "Shut up, Naruto (Sasuke: "dobe" and Sai: "dickless")."

Naruto pouted behind his mask mentally rocking back in forth in the fetal position tears in his eyes. "Thanks a lot guys," he mumbled.

Had Neji not had years to practice his impassive composure he would have sweat dropped. This was extremely anticlimactic and completely unprofessional. Deciding it was high time to get their mission moving he finally spoke out his voice stern. "Enough." He directed his words towards the kunoichi, "I apologize, Sakura, for I had always respected you, but we have a mission to complete and you will come with us whether you oblige or not."

Her eyes widen in surprise at his words, but she quickly schooled her expression. "I appreciate your words to me even under these conditions."

"Will you be willing?"

A soft sigh left her lips. "Of course not."

"Very well," he angled his head towards Sai who only gave her another fake smile. "I apologize for your face will soon contort into an ugly mess in a moment."

Sakura opened her mouth to screech out an insult of her own, but her jaw went slack. Her muscles went stiff a sharp pain flowing through her. A sudden numbing feeling overcame her and as her body convulsed she collapsed to the ground.

Through gritted teeth, eyes threatening, "What the hell?"

"The ink." He answered simply.

"The ink…" She repeated as if saying it twice would help her understand.

"There is a chemical within the ink that specializes in incapacitating my enemies. Very useful," he looked down at her, "And very entertaining."

_**Let me kick his ass!**_

_Now is not that time for you to run your mouth!_

Pushing her inner to the corners of her mind she tried to lift her arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sai said.

Sakura's jaw tightened when pain stabbed through her entire body. Her medic mind quickly realized that the chemicals were starting to sink into her muscles almost physically restraining her movements.

"Bastard, that's a nasty attack to use on Sakura-chan," Naruto said his voice laced in worry, but he did nothing to stop his teammate. This needed to be done. His shoulders slump at having to watch Sakura crumble in pain. He turned his face aside. He never wanted to see his friends suffer.

With the last of her strength she picked her head up, emerald eyes gleaming at Sai threateningly, "I'm going to break every bone in your body, severe every artery, disengage your intestines, drain your blood, heal you and do it all over again." And with that said, inner Sakura completely satisfied with finally be able to be heard, her mind succumb to the darkness.

Naruto blinked. "Sakura-chan is scary." The thought of his intestines being destroyed made his body shudder. He wouldn't be able to eat ramen if that happened!

Sai tilted his head at her threat. "Hag is morbid."

"Hey don't call her that!"

"Kami! Dobe, shut the hell up!" Sasuke growled pinching the bridge of his nose. He would never admit it aloud, but the mental image Sakura conjured up left him feeling a tad unsettled as well. Damn medics and their extensive knowledge on the human anatomy.

He watched as Naruto continued to bicker with his look alike. They were all idiots. Neji seemed ready to practice his sixty-four palm on his subordinates.

Taking a deep breath he readjusted his mask before kneeling beside Sakura. Hooking his arm under her knees and her shoulders, he easily lifted her up. This caught the attention of the other three who followed his lead and also reposition their own masks. "Let's head out," Neji voice, his annoyance no longer able to be heard.

Neji was the first to take off, followed by Sai. Naruto stayed behind his gaze trained on the girl in his arms. "Do you think we can keep her in the village? She's not going to be happy."

"No… she's just going to be annoying."

Naruto let out a dry laugh. "As you so eloquently put."

"Do you even know what that means?"

The blonde said nothing, probably scowling behind his mask before turning and taking off as well leaving Sasuke in his thoughts.

Sakura was so light in his arms, but something felt off. His Sharingan didn't pick up anything strange about her, but there was something that just didn't feel right. He tried to shake the feeling but it wouldn't go away. His grip on the girl tightened his eyes darting around the area. Where was Itachi? Didn't Akatsuki partners always stay together? Suspicions crawled through his mind.

"_Uchiha, you're lagging behind," _Neji barked from his ear piece.

"_Come on, teme, the faster we get back the faster you can treat me at Ichiraku's!"_

Sasuke scowled, but followed Neji's orders nonetheless and followed after his squad.

A pair of emerald eyes watched as each figure disappeared into the night. When she was sure that they were out of range she left her hidden position.

The moment that Sakura noticed her sluggish movements she immediately pinpointed the problem. The chemical had already begun to circulate, but she specialized with poisons. It took only a few seconds for her to push the chemicals out of her skin. It was a rather painful process, but not a difficult one. Knowing that she needed a scape goat she executed a high level clone that was currently in the arms of Sasuke.

This high level jutsu created almost the perfect replica. Obviously no one would be able to tell the difference, but it took immense control and focus to maintain it.

Sakura recalled the physical pain that ran through her body as Sai restrained her. Given the chance she was sure that she would actually go through with her threat. She laughed softly. Inner Sakura was truly twisted.

If she focused enough she could almost feel Sasuke's warmth engulf her like a soft caress. It sent a shiver down her spine. She closed her eyes. Sasuke's entire presence overcame her senses. Any smell that came off of Sasuke was purely him, for ANBU didn't use any scented bathing supplies (to avoid being tracked). It smelled of rainwater and pure masculinity. For once she allowed herself to indulge in it. Sakura let out a hum of delight, but was abruptly brought back to the present when a soft chuckle broke out.

"Nice of you to join me, Itachi," every word laced in sarcasm, "some partner you are."

"Oh, but it was very entertaining. I didn't want to be inhospitable and intrude."

"How did you know to come back?"

"Kuniochi, I never left," she could almost hear his smirk. Of course this didn't surprise her. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

Although it made her wonder how he knew not to leave. Was it because he already sensed the ANBU squad? Had he anticipated it?

"What will we do? Dispersing the clone would only be counterproductive for they will return for me and" her eyes glanced at him, "Sasuke for you."

Itachi knew this. It was almost time for his final battle with Sasuke, but it wasn't quite right yet. "We will pay a visit to Konoha."

Sakura's forehead wrinkled in confusion. Weren't they supposed to do the very opposite of that? Was there a change that she was unaware of? "Leader's orders changed?"

For a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer her. She opened her mouth ready to demand he answer her, but there was no need. "No… We have business there."

Sakura turned her body to face him fully her arms crossed before her. "If Leader finds out he'll have our heads. He gave us a direct order to stay away from Konoha, not return to it."

His gaze turned on her almost piercing through her soul and for the first time since their partnership she felt rising fear being under his scrutiny. "He will not discover this."

Sakura had so many questions that she wanted to ask, but knew better than to push the Uchiha. He seemed to be on edge, a slight tension in his shoulders. Deciding it best to accept the change of plans she only nodded as she went to retrieve her cloak.

With one last glance at her partner she frowned, "I'm still ticked that you left me to fend for myself."

Itachi's eyes shined with amusement. "Maybe I should have assisted you. You were easily overpowered…" he smirked, "twice."

Emerald eyes narrowed. "Shut up it was a fluke."

"The first step in life is acceptance, Sakura. I'm sure you know this."

"And the first step in jackass-ism is bullshit."

"Such vulgar words."

Sakura repressed the urge to snap the older Uchiha's neck knowing this was his form of stoic teasing. Giving him one last glare she stormed off into the forest, with Itachi softly chuckling after her.

The kunoichi would never know that Itachi actually saw her as a pleasant companion. He found that he would actually enjoy riling her. Her irritation was very amusing. Thoughts of his younger brother came to mind and a foreboding feeling overcame him. His light mood darkened. Now if only he could get Sasuke to see Sakura's potential, in more ways than the battle field. Or perhaps his sibling already did.

_Soon, Otouto. Very soon._

* * *

A/N: I know it's short, but it wouldn't be any better if it was any longer. Haha a teasing Itachi is soooo cute.

Review.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Today's my dad's birthday! yay! He's an old fart haha

Standard Disclaimer applies

Revision/Reconstruction complete: 7/27/11

Repost: 7/27/11

* * *

Chapter 12

It was midnight, the full moon concealed by the dark clouds that floated above. A calm meadow on the outskirts of the village was illuminated by the soft glow of several fireflies. Sakura's legs were crossed her hand resting on her knees eyes closed in mediation. It was necessary for her clone was currently undergoing severe interrogation. It took all her strength to keep the jutsu intact. She could feel every bruise, every cut that she was forced to bear. Konoha was in desperate need for information on Akatsuki, but she couldn't reveal anything to them yet.

Her Akatsuki cloak kept the chill of the night at bay. A soft breeze blew by causing a pink strand to softly brush against her cheek. Her eyes opened sluggishly looking at the lone piece of hair with slight annoyance. Sighing she pulled the senbon in her hair out, pink tresses falling against her back.

In the years between her defection in Konoha and the present, it seemed the only thing to stay the same was the length of her hair. When she first started to grow her hair out it was for the initial belief that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. She knew that her unnecessary rivalry with Ino for Sasuke's affection would lead to suspicion if she kept her hair short.

There was no reason for it, she now realized while grabbing the kunai that sat in arms reach ready to be drawn for defense. Gathering her pinks strands in one hand she easily cut through it the tips grazing the top of her shoulder. She let the severed locks fall to the ground beside her. Satisfied with this change of appearance she returned to her meditation, eyes closed once again.

Her thoughts quickly returned to all the reasons as to why her Uchiha partner found the need to go against Leader's initial orders and return to their leaf village. It didn't make sense. Itachi was never one to go against direct orders. What could he be planning?

Even worse what were they going to do afterwards? It would be highly unlikely that the two of them wouldn't be spotted. This will raise alarm and alert all nearby villages of Akatsuki's presence. Leader would find out in no time and he will surely inflict fatal damage on them.

All thoughts were abruptly slammed to a stop when another wave of pain washed over her. A massive headache pulsed in the front of her skull.

_Persistent bastards! That hurt!_

Her inner seemed to groan out. _**I'm tired of this!**_

_Shut it. It's already bad enough that I have to hold this jutsu without you whining._

Rubbing her temple with hopes that it would ease her headache she groaned. Holding the jutsu was proving to be quite a work out mentally and psychologically. The circular motion of her finger tips halted when she felt a familiar chakra presence behind her.

"Are you here to tell me that you are ready to go now because by all means just give me the signal, oh great one." It probably wasn't the best decision to taunt Itachi, but at this moment she could careless. She felt like her forehead was being grinded against a cheese grader. With a long sigh she gathered herself up and faced the other occupant of the meadow.

Itachi took a moment to assess her change of appearance but said nothing of it. His silent gaze indicated that it was, indeed, time for them to infiltrate the village for whatever reason, she still couldn't figure out.

"Who died and made you boss?" His eyes narrowed another silent threat for her to shut the hell up. "Fine, fine," she said submissively with a wave of her hand, "Let's just get this over with."

_**You're starting to sound more like me.**_

_You don't have to sound so satisfied about it… _

XxXx

Sasuke stood on the outside of Sakura's cell. His eyes glared at her kneeling figure. Her arms were restrained with chakra bindings behind her as were her ankles. Two metal chains sprouted from the ground connecting to the collar on her neck. Blindfolded her head fell forward her chest moving deeply as if she was sleeping, but Sasuke knew better. He had witness the numerous ways that Morino Ibiki tried to extract information from her. His methods ranged from physical all the way to psychological, but no words left her mouth.

After Neji briefed the mission to Tsunade, her hazel eyes had narrowed. She dismissed all, but him. Alone she told him to remain with her in the interrogation room to observe her. He relayed his suspicion in which the blonde had confirmed hers as well.

_Every word she speaks, every action, every response, I want your eyes on her. _

This was why he found himself late in the night still watching Sakura. Her snipe remarks were just the same as ever and her actions were to be expected after enduring torture. His arms crossed in front of him. He was missing something, some small minute detail. Dark eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

And then realization struck him. How could he have overlooked her seal? The legitimization of the seal would ensure of her presence. With this theory in mind, apprehension took over as he barked at the guard to open the gate to her cell. With it unlocked he stormed up to the kneeling girl. With a few hand signs the collar on her neck fell to the ground with a soft _clank. _She lifted her head up to the sound.

"Sasuke?"

"Don't speak," he hissed as he grabbed the front of the shirt. He hoisted her up to her feet easily dragging her away form her current spot.

"What are you doing," irritation lacing every word.

In response he slammed her front to the nearest wall. "I said do not speak." With his hand to the back of her neck he lifted her shirt up and placed his free palm against her bare skin. He ignored the way she seemed to shiver at the contact. Sending a pulse of chakra against her seal he froze at finding that there was no response. He had learned, by his curse seal, that the seal will reject any other input of chakra besides the carrier. This seal was not the original, meaning the girl before him that had withstood all the torture was not Sakura. He cursed aloud before turning Sakura forcefully to face him.

"Stop manhandling me!" she spat.

His hands now position at her throat, thumb against her jugular, he could feel her swallow. Bringing his face close he breathed against her ear before speaking. "Where are you?"

Her cheek moved against his indicating that she was smirking. "Come find me."

XxXx

Being that she had no clue what was going on in Itachi's head, she could only follow him as they darted in the darkness around the village. When the interrogation building was in sight she watched as he commenced hand signs for a katon jutsu. What was he doing?

Her questions died on her lips when she was forcefully brought to the state of her clone. All she saw was empty darkness, but that was to be expected. They thought it be best that she was blind folded, but what caught her attention was how forcefully she was pushed around and then slammed against the wall, she inwardly winced when her forehead made contact with the concrete. Who was throwing her around like a freaking rag doll?

She closed her eyes to focus on her surroundings more. She heard voices. It was her own and Sasuke's? Was this another form of interrogation?

_Where are you? _He asked.

Sakura's eyes snapped open in realization. "Sasuke knows. My clone has been compromised," she said to Itachi.

A smirk crawled onto his face. "How convenient," and then he threw several exploding tags in the air as he finally released his jutsu. Sakura had to shield her eyes from the explosion. Through strained eyes she noticed that his makeshift bomb wasn't aimed at anything necessarily. Some buildings crumbled by the radius of the explosion, but other than that there was no massive damage.

Strange.

Itachi turned his gaze at her. "Remove your ring." Her jaw slackened. When she was recruited she was told never to take the accessory off. It meant defection from Akatsuki, not that she was complaining. Her only regret was that she didn't have the scroll that held contents of all her findings on the other S-class Akatsuki in her possession. Being that Itachi was already confusing her to the point of insanity she didn't object only pulling her ring. He held his palm out his ring sitting in the center. She gently placed her own to next to his not taking her eyes off him. "Go to your clone."

Sakura poised herself to dart herself towards the interrogation building. "And you?"

"I have matters of my own."

She nodded her head once, her muscles coiled to spring, but she was stopped when a hand gripped on her elbow lightly. Surprise clearly evident in her voice she turned to the elder Uchiha, "Itachi?"

Sharingan eyes scrutinized her. Being impassive as he always was she couldn't seem to understand his intentions. "Sakura, go to him." Eye brows furrowed. "Stay with him."

"Wha-"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "My Otouto was always foolish. I'm afraid after this we will part ways."

Confusion seemed to be her comrade at the moment. "I… I don't understand."

"In time you will," and with that he release her arm. "Go."

She stared at him, hesitant, trying to understand his forever cryptic words. Upon further contemplation and having been around Itachi for nearly three years she realized, her eyes widened, that this was his form of saying…

_Good bye._

"Itachi…" her eyes softened she sent an empty smile back to him before turning her back on him.

Despite his history, Sakura looked at him from over her shoulder, he was an honorable man. No matter how strange his instruction seemed to be she followed them regardless. She finally realized why. As negative as their occupation and crimes were she could almost call him her friend. Her heart squeezed painfully her eyes stinging.

_Damn emotions. _

Not wanting him to see her cry at his parting she immediately turned around and took off jumping roof to roof with enough speed to not be seen by the naked eyes.

Itachi stayed behind watching after her. His brother will seek him out, but there was something that needed to be done beforehand. With a deep breath he took off.

XxXx

His grip tightened on her neck at her words his voice lowering an octave. "I will not ask again."

Before Sakura could respond, to make a smartass comment, he was sure, the walls shook around them. Being that this cell was underground it could only mean, his eyes darted upwards, that something was coming down.

There was the sound of cracking and then the ceiling above crumbled around him. Dust rose. The only sounds that could be heard were the rubble continuing to fall and his coughing. The lantern that originally lit the room was crushed leaving them in the darkness. He activated his Sharingan to alleviate that fault. A figure stood above the pile of crushed foundation. Their body bent over a fist against the ground. He didn't sense any large output of chakra so that meant it wasn't a jutsu. There were only two people who were capable of this destruction.

"Sakura."

Said person straightened up and turned to face him. "Sasuke."

"Are you finally here to take Naruto for Akatsuki's dark greed?" he asked lowly.

"Actually… I don't really know why I'm here. Damn Itachi always bosses me around."

He clenched his fists at his brother's name. "Where is he?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me. He was acting all weird and everything. I'm not quite sure what's going on."

"Bullshit, Sakura. That makes no sense."

She glared. "You don't think I know that? It doesn't help that approximately ten minutes ago we defected from Akatsuki."

Sasuke's shoulders tensed. "Defected? Why?"

"That's what I'm asking, too." The two stared at each other. "So where does that leave us?"

Sasuke said nothing still trying to wrap his head around this new fact. Itachi and Sakura defected from Akatsuki. They two of them were in the village and not trying to destroy everything. They weren't even trying to get the Kyuubi. His eyes took in Sakura's appearance. She lacked the signature Akatsuki wardrobe. She came back willingly with no particular reason other than that Itachi told her to. Where _did _this leave them?

With a long sigh Sakura spoke again after mumbling something along the lines of: _Damn Uchiha's always have to leave it to me to talk. _"Sasuke, I honestly don't know why I'm here," she paused, "And you were right. After completing my goal, I didn't have anything else to work for. All I had left were Akatsuki's countless tasks that I got nothing out of. Truthfully," she looked him straight in his eyes, "I'm just so tired. "

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked after a moment.

"While after our last encounter I've had enough time to myself to contemplate and wonder what I truly want most. I want to be at peace with myself, but how would I reach that, I would ask myself," she shook her head, "I don't have an answer for that. But I know that you will reach inner peace when you defeat Itachi and that is all that I wish for you." Sasuke became confused. "Sasuke… all I want is for you to not suffer anymore, like I've been suffering."

And it was the truth, Sakura realized. The one thing she wished to acquire most is to be able to smile a carefree happy smile, not one that carries sadness or anger. She wasn't sure how what was to become of her after this, but all she wanted was to finally stop acting like she liked killing. Not anymore, no more.

"Sakura?" Sasuke voice broke through her thoughts and by doing so she realized that she was crying.

"Oh… I'm sorry… I always seem to cry now. Kami, I hate crying."

After hearing her speak he finally understood why she kept fighting them why she refused to return. She simply couldn't. Unable to understand herself how was she going to be able to live with all her actions. Sakura left because she was trying to find herself.

Sasuke reached for her. She flinched back. "Don't touch me," but her words were the farthest thing from convincing. His hands grabbed her shoulders while she turned her face away. She couldn't meet his eyes. "Let me go," a soft whisper.

His fingers traced her face almost achingly gentle as he took hold of her chin forcing her to look in his eyes. His other hand snaked to the back of her neck his fingers entangling in her shorter locks. He looked at her through half lidded eyes. "You don't have to keep running anymore," and with that he closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers.

When Sakura left them last time he kept having reoccurring dreams of kissing this cherry blossom kunoichi. While he always woke up feeling unsettled he couldn't help but wonder if her lips were as soft as her dream ones.

Turns out, they were even softer. He could feel her lips tremble under his own. She tried to push him away, but his grip only tightened his eye brows furrowing. Noticing that she wasn't responding he took her lower lip between his. He pulled only to press his lips even harder against her a silent gesture to let him in! All her life she had wall after wall built around her, to protect what she held dear: her heart. And now he was silently asking, demanding that she let him in.

Finally feeling her lips respond to his he released her chin and snaked his arm around her waist to pull her fully against his form as he slanted his mouth of hers to deepen this kiss. He vaguely heard Sakura's soft whimper before she ran her hands against his chest dragging them all the way to his shoulders before intertwining in his hair to pull him closer.

Sasuke didn't protest he only pulled her closer if even possible.

Somewhere in their hell two lost souls found comfort within each other.

All Sakura could feel was the stutter of her heart and the warmth of Sasuke's body. And just as she remembered from her clone he smelled of rainwater.

Needing oxygen the two pulled away from each other. Sasuke trailed his lips along the corner of her lips to her cheek. His lips lingered before pressing against her skin.

Her heart stopped only to restart twice as fast. For the first time she felt warmth crawling to her cheeks. She was blushing.

Never in her life had she received such affection, from Sasuke no less! Her stomach churned. Is this feeling what people call butterflies fluttering? She let out a sigh her breath caressing Sasuke's ear. His arms tightened and he breathed her in. "Stop running. Stay here."

_Stay with me. _

His unspoken request tore through her like nothing else. Was this what genuine want feels like? Tears clouded her vision. She bit her swollen lip to keep it from trembling.

"No," she said her voice shaking, "no more." Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "I don't want to run anymore."

She closed her eyes losing herself in the warmth that was overtaking her.

Sasuke's eyes shot opened when he felt her arms fall away from him, her body went limp. He pulled away to look at her face and saw that her constant troubled expression was no longer there. There was a burst of foreign chakra, but nothing happened. He lowered her to the ground and craned his head around to look at her back. The last kanji pulsed and slowly, but surely, disappeared leaving her ivory skin unmarked. Sasuke's eyes widened.

The seal was gone.

* * *

A/N: Talk about a first kiss. Hell yeah!

Review! :)


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I'm extremely exhausted right now... but I managed to type this out. Now for those of you who somehow still read my stories I'll have you know that the conclusion of this story is coming up. In fact, this is the second to last chapter. I never realized just how close i was to finishing this story until I read through the whole thing just to stir up my memory on it. I actually thought about leaving it incomplete. And I apologize sincerly for the lack of updates and I fully appreciate those who still support me, although I know there are few now.

Enjoy!

Standard Disclaimer applies

Revised/Reconstruction complete: 7/27/11

Repost: 7/27/11

* * *

Chapter 13

There are times in your life when you feel particularly alone and the loneliness begins to eat you from the inside. The hole in your heart pulses through you, but there is no pain, only acknowledgment. You can feel that there is something missing, and the hardest part is that you don't know which is more frightening: knowing what's missing or not knowing at all.

Sakura couldn't quite put a finger on what had just happened or what she was feeling. The empty cavity in her heart seemed to scream out at her and she wasn't sure why. Her surroundings had no sense to them. As if one wouldn't be able to exactly figure out any kind of placement. It felt like…nothingness.

Maybe she was dreaming, for her body seemed out of place and her movement was sluggish. Or maybe she was awake for the first time. She couldn't tell anymore. So she decided to remain lifeless and to just relax.

But somewhere in the back of her mind someone was calling out to her.

"Sakura…" their voice was faint, distant. Her eyes shot opened and she frantically turned left and right to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" she called out reaching for a kunai, but to her surprise, she came out empty handed. Eyes darted to her body to find that she was completely stripped of her weapons. What is the meaning of this?

"Oh, Sakura," her attention snapped towards the source of the voice. "It's so nice to see you."

Since she was without weapons she readied her fist with chakra and found that she felt empty. The natural warmth of her life energy was nowhere to be found. This thoroughly left her unsettled. She was left completely defenseless and nothing made sense. From within all the blankness of her surroundings, an outline of a shadow became apparent. "Show yourself."

The unknown figure laughed almost menacingly, but none-the-less obliged. The outline turned into a shape, then to a figure.

Sakura's jaw dropped her eyes widened. She was speechless.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Her jaw snapped shut, her words hissing, "What's going on here? Why are _you _here?"

"How rude. What happened to your pleasantries?"

XxXx

Sakura's body lay limp in Sasuke's arms. His dark eyes showed nothing, but inside he was full of puzzling thoughts and unanswered questions. His lips were left tingling and he felt male satisfaction at the sight of Sakura's thoroughly swollen lips.

Despite his kissing having the intentions of making Sakura feel, he didn't expect it to backfire on him all the same. While he finally managed to get through to her he seemed to have felt every emotion that ran through her. His heart was still pumping wildly.

The sound of more rubble falling caught his attention. Looking above he finally took in the sight of destruction Sakura made to reach one of the lowest floors of the underground building. With the risk of collapse he needed to leave quickly. Maneuvering Sakura in his arms he picked up her bridal style. With her securely in his arms he gave his surroundings a quick once over satisfied that the guards were no where in sight. They must have fled when the felt the intrusion.

With chakra flowing to his feet he started to jump his way though the destruction to get above ground. It was proving to be quite difficult seeing that he had to worry about not only himself, but an unconscious Sakura as well. The girl didn't seem like she was going to be waking up any time soon with the way he kept jostling her body. He could only wonder what was going on with her at this moment.

'_Even when she's out cold, she's still as annoying as ever.' _

XxXx

"Damn it," the busty blond woman cursed. One minute she was on the verge of going haywire with her paperwork and dealing with the recent retrieval of a certain pink hair former apprentice, and now she had to worry about casualties and damage control due to the recent disruption of the village.

At this moment, she was having a difficult time trying to think of reasons as to why she shouldn't mutilate a certain loud mouth ninja for convincing her to take this position.

A single Anbu ninja appeared before her causing her to refocus on the task at hand. "Report!" She demanded in a frustrated tone.

The Anbu obliged with an official tone, "A medical squad has been sent to treat any injured. All damages were minor."

Tsunade felt suspicion at the last statement. A bomb's primary usage was to inflict heavy constructional damage, yet buildings were barely scathed? Surely this wasn't an invasion.

"Do we know the extent of the attacker?" she asked.

"We believe it's the Akatsuki."

Her eye brow elevated. "Why do you conclude that?"

"Just moments ago the interrogation building was infiltrated."

Her fists clenched tightly as she leaned back in her chair. There was no doubt in her mind that Sakura was behind it all. It did occur to her that her retrieval was too easy. The ANBU squad that was sent on that mission returned with no injuries what so ever, not even a bruise, which would seem unlikely due to the superhuman strength that she had passed on when taking Sakura as an apprentice.

But back to the matter at hand, who was the last to be with Sakura…?

A frustrated sigh left her lips. "Find Uchiha."

Another Anbu ninja appeared beside the present one.

"What now?" she hissed between her teeth.

"Uchiha Itachi is in the village."

Tsunade glared at no one in particular before giving a command. "You," she said as she pointed at one ninja, "find Naruto and bring him to me," she turned to the other ninja, "and you, your objective remains the same: Find Uchiha Sasuke. Do this quickly, or I will suspend you both and assign only D-rank missions for the next two years!"

"Hai!" they said in unison before dispersing. Tsunade rubbed at her temple and looked at her sake longingly before shaking her head.

Naruto was in danger and she was sure that Itachi was after him. Her first priority was to make sure that the Kyuubi did not get within a five mile radius of the Akatsuki.

Tsunade fully intended to make a beeline to the hospital when she felt a flash of chakra from behind her. Her nerves remained calm thanks to her years as an experienced ninja. Retracting her hand from the knob of her door she turned towards the figure perched at her window with an intrigued expression.

"You have some nerve showing up before me."

XxXx

Feeling that it would be best to leave Sakura at the hospital Sasuke leapt from roof to roof traveling swiftly. His pace faltered when he sensed another presence. He quickly pushed against the roof he was currently on with chakra enhance feet managing to avoid the cloud of senbon that embedded in his previous spot. He steadied himself before glaring towards the source of the attack. The attacker remained in the shadows, but one didn't have to be a genius to figure out who it was.

"Itachi."

His lean form stood above him on top of a building. His defection from Akatsuki was confirmed when he saw Itachi's lack of ring and cloak. Sharingan eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. "The Uchiha compound. Bring her." His challenge was spoke short and concise before his form dispersed into a formation of crows.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed. A soft whimper was heard. He looked down in his arms and tightened his hold on Sakura. Her face was contorted into displeasure as she seemed to curl into his body even more. Sasuke could only wonder what could disturb her to the point of physical expression, but he pushed his worry away. There were more important matters to deal with.

With that he took off to the place he hadn't set foot in since he was a child.

XxXx

"I'm insane, yep, that's the answer," Sakura nodded to herself with a smile glad to know she finally had an answer to her predicament. "Which will explain why I'm talking to myself… completely insane…" She grimaced.

"Stop talking to yourself," the other "person" said with a tone implying Sakura was a child. Upon a moment of contemplation she continued, "Oh, wait, that would mean that you were talking to me. But nooo, you're being such a child right now."

Sakura could almost hear her eyes rolling. She glared at the other being, her split image. Standing before her with a relaxed posture stood the very being that tormented Sakura's every thought.

Inner Sakura.

Unlike herself, inner Sakura wasn't entirely solid, but transparent which meant that it would be completely useless to punch her. She already discovered that much.

After obscenities were exchanged, Sakura resigned to speaking to herself because speaking to her inner simply implied that she was being acknowledged. "Even though she doesn't exist!" Sakura growled aloud finishing her thoughts.

"Denial will get you nowhere in life," her inner spoke nonchalantly as she observed her nails.

She only received a glare in response, but other than that no one said another word, that is, until Sakura's curiosity got the better of her.

"What happened?"

Her inner looked up feigning surprise. "Oh! Are you talking to me now?"

Sakura tried, _really _tried to hold herself back from attacking again. "Of course or are you implying that I'm talking to myself again? Because that would mean, by default, that I was talking to you either way."

"Nicely put," her transparent lips turned into a smile, "I do believe that we're beginning to think alike now. Our minds are merging."

Sakura's eyebrow quirked up. "Come again?"

Inner Sakura gave a long sigh before responding. "We're in a type of limbo right now, within your mind or at least I think so."

"What do you mean?"

The being gave Sakura a pointed look. "Think back on everything you just said. Have you not notice that every word you speak has a feel to it?"

Sakura blinked before thinking back on her words and gasped. All the words she spoke were accompanied by some kind of physical response. A smile, a soft frown, and even seething irritation at her counterpart. She couldn't believe it and before she knew it she was smiling again. "Do you mean… the seal is gone?" She couldn't stop the feel of bubbling… joy!

She was happy! She was free to feel what she wanted to feel! Gentle tears began to fall from her eyes and along her cheeks.

"Oh sweet Kami," Sakura covered her mouth with her hands to keep her sobs of happiness from escaping.

Her inner merely rolled her eyes murmuring something along the lines of "overreacting sentimental crazy woman," but Sakura couldn't find it in her to care. More tears fell from her face as she also realized that she could finally chose whether or not she wanted to care.

"Anyway," her inner spoke out through her emotional tears, "I was a separate being from your mind when the first part of your seal was broken. I am simply the figment of your emotions and I regretfully say that I took over your state of mind. The balance of your emotions was broken when you finally felt anger. Without the other two to retain the anger, I was born."

Sakura grew weary remembering the year of torment her mind had gone through.

Transparent emerald eyes rolled. "No need to worry yourself. Now that all emotions have been release there is finally balance and order within you therefore our minds are synching. Of course now that you have your own opinions, you now have me. I am the part of you that you don't openly express."

Sakura became confused. "But I had just obtained all my emotions. I don't have anything to express yet."

"You think that now, but remember you still felt things even with the seal, but the seal was just," she paused to ponder the rest of her sentence, "a sort of pain killer. It numbed you to the emotions. You still had your opinions. You just didn't know that you had them."

Something in Sakura stirred at this piece of information and her inner gave her a knowing look. "If your saying that I've always have opinions of my own… then how do I really feel about Sasuke?"

The question floated in the air as he both of them contemplated the answer. If what her inner said was true, then Sakura had an opinion on everyone in her life. She thought of Naruto and right off the bat she could feel that she felt soft admiration for the blond knuckle head. She laughed softly to herself.

Everyone that she knew had a place in her heart, she realized.

Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shishou were surrogate parents to her. Shizune was a sort of sister to her. Even Lee, whose 'youthful' admiration annoyed her, had a feel of a comrade. And Naruto, her silly brother.

Sakura didn't realize that her smile was beaming with happiness. These people meant something to her.

But what of Sasuke?

"I don't think you love him," her inner spoke out catching Sakura's attention, "Actually I don't think you love any of them yet."

_Yet._

Yes, she would have to learn to love them. She only had her opinions on everyone, but not quite feelings. "But I think," the being continued," you can learn to love Sasuke." He's not quite a friend to you. It doesn't feel right to simply call him that, but he means so much more to us."

"That's true, I mean, I did follow him around for all those years," Sakura said. Both laughed. "So… what happens now?"

The atmosphere turned grave. "I don't have all the answers, only the answer that you already know at a subconscious level, but the emotions you're feeling right now is only a fraction of what you feel when you wake up."

Sakura knew this and she could only hope that she could handle it.

XxXx

"Baa-chan!"

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched and she scowled. There was only one brat who dared call her that. "Pipsqueak! Don't call me that!"

Naruto ignored her comment, "We need to find Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan!"

The Hokage only pinched to bridge of her nose (while pleading to Kami for that sake!) before throwing an empty bottle of her sake at the younger male's head. "Shut up!"

Naruto squeaked before ducking to avoid the offending object. "But-!"

"Enough, you little brat! There's no need," she scowled, but was internally relieved at the recent turn of events.

"_You have some nerve showing up before me."_

_The figure didn't respond but stepped down from the window sill to make his identity known. A pair of bright Sharingan eyes looked back at the Hokage with indifference._

"_So Itachi, what do I owe your unexpected visit," surprisingly enough Tsunade didn't hold a speck of fear for the Uchiha. _

"_I have a request." A blonde eyebrow arched. "I'm sure you are aware of the true whereabouts of the Uchiha Massacre," he said solemnly. She only nodded. "I only request that you take that information into consideration. I am awaiting my foolish little Otouto's arrival at the Uchiha manor at this moment."_

_Tsunade said nothing knowing this was a crucial, necessary event that must occur. The last of the Uchihas must face off and one will die. "I see," she said while scrutinizing the elder Uchiha. "I will take your request into consideration and further investigate the happenings of that night. Do I have your word that you are not here to further terrorize this village with Akatsuki's intentions in mind?" His only response was his retrieving a scroll and a small brown sack from his cloak. He tossed both to the older woman. She caught it without breaking eye contact._

_Making sure that he wasn't about to turn on her, she unraveled the scroll. Within it were contents of every member in Akatsuki. What caught her off guard was the first few passages were written in Sakura's hand writing while it seemed that it was finished with different hand writing. Hazel eyes turned to the Uchiha. _

"_This is Sakura's writing."_

"_That was her intentions. Being that I am an older member, I simply added my own input."_

"_I am… surprised," she admitted finally realization dawning on her, "You consort with Jiraiya."_

"_Aa. You hold two Akatsuki rings in your possession. Akatsuki cannot replace lost members if their rings are not returned. This makes extractions of the Bijuu difficult. It will buy you more time to counter."_

_With a nod of approval she placed both items in her safe. With a few hand signs the compartment glowed insuring her of its security. With that completed she turned towards Itachi once again. "I never knew you personally. I've never fought with or against you in combat, but you have my respect, Uchiha Itachi." _

_Those Sharingan eyes soften only slightly. "I wouldn't want to keep my Otouto waiting," his deep voice seemed to catch with the wind and all the commotion in the village. _

"_Very well, you're dismissed," she said softly and not a moment after the words left her lips Itachi bowed in respect and disappeared. _

_Even moments before his possible demise, was he loyal to the Hokage. She smiled a sad smile. How the great have fallen._

"But…" his voice softer now, "What if Sasuke gets hurt?"

Tsunade leaned forward placing her chin against her intertwined fingers. "Naruto, there are just some things we need to stay out of."

Throughout Naruto's entire life many have deemed him as not the most intelligent, but after that single statement, he knew exactly what the Hokage was speaking of. And for once he found himself silent as he slid into the seat closest to him.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"That's not in my place to say." Tsunade half expected to boy to jump up with proclamations of "Of course he'll be okay! He's Sasuke-Teme!", but again she found herself surprised when he remained quiet without the slightest sign of protesting.

Finding herself feeling unsettled by this strange behavior she mumbled a quick comment about going to the hospital before leaving Naruto alone to ponder his thoughts.

XxXx

Sasuke skidded to a stop as he reached the gates to the main house of the Uchiha Manor. _'Where it all started' _he noted solemnly.

Pushing the gate aside with his foot, Sasuke walked into his living hell for the first time since he was a child. He could sense Itachi's chakra located in the Uchiha's personal training grounds.

The younger Uchiha continued walking through the long deserted streets of the Uchiha clan, the sound of his sandals echoing to his ears. Distinctly from his memories he recalled the sound his uncles and aunts greeting him and wishing him a good day at the academy. If he tried hard enough he could almost feel the presence of his mother when he would always walk by her side on beautiful days.

Sasuke shook his head of these thoughts. He had no time to reminisce in lost memories. They were long gone. His grip on Sakura only tightened, her scent giving him a sense of comfort and strength, as he emerged upon a peaceful clearing a pond in the center. The flashing memories of his younger self practicing his katon no jutsu ran through his mind, but quickly faded at the sight of Itachi's lone figure.

Without turning around Itachi acknowledged Sasuke, "You took your time, Otouto."

"Don't call me that," he growled through gritted teeth. "You don't deserve to speak that word anymore. He lost that privilege years ago."

Itachi finally turned to taunt him, "That is a shame, I would have enjoyed hearing you call me "aniki" again just for old time's sake."

"Go to hell. I'll be sure to send you there."

"If you can." Itachi could feel Sasuke's chakra rolling off of him in waves. It was time.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura before laying her in the grass where he was sure she would be out of harm's way. He gently ran his hand through her pink locks noting the softness of it. Taking one more lingering look at the unconscious woman, he straightened his knees and approached the man who destroyed the life he had as a child.

This was his last thought as he drew his sword, the intent to kill.

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Reviews are appreciated


	14. Chapter 14: Seeing Through the Heart

A/N: So, final chapter. The conclusion of a story that took me three years. It feels wierd finally being able to complete this.

Seeing Through Deception is currently being edited... hardcore-slap-in-the-face-make-you-want-to-cry editing.

I want to say thanks to all of those who reviewed this story and supported me even when I left you guys hanging. Believe me, it was hard on me too.

Standard Disclaimer applies

Enjoy!

Repost: 7/27/11

* * *

Chapter 14

Naruto was never known for his patience. In fact, he was never known for it because he simply didn't have any. If he wanted something he would resort to demands and even to pester until he got his way. It was his way of showing that he was a force to be reckoned with, maybe not seriously, but they would surely notice when he was in their presence. He always seemed to have an answer to everything even if they didn't make sense. He, at least, had something.

But now, as he finds himself looking over his two teammates (his family), he is at a complete loss with no answers to reassure him that everything would be okay. Sasuke was found on the brink of death next to his already dead brother. And Sakura was not all that far away from the Uchiha brothers, dead to the world. Naruto almost lost his sense of calm (not that he was ever calm) at the sight of his two best friends unconscious.

That was three days ago.

The two were currently tucked into separate hospital beds, left alone to recover. Sasuke was graced with many bandages and wraps, an IV attached to him. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't bear any injuries, but had wires attached on the sides of her temple (to monitor her brain activity, Obaa-chan had told him). Tsunade had briefed him that Sakura's state of mind may or may not be stable and only time would tell whether or not she could recover from any possible psychological damage.

The older blonde had also informed him that Sasuke may not be too far off in psychological trauma himself after facing and killing his brother.

Naruto could only laugh dryly. They were all graces with emotional scars. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists tightly. His lip trembled. For once in his life he didn't know what to make of it.

Physically the two of them were fine, but beyond that he wasn't sure if everything would be okay.

His cerulean eyes took in the sight of his teammates. Both were breathing calmly with no expression on their faces. Occasionally Sasuke's face would twist in distraught only to relax into impassiveness moments later.

However, Sakura was a different story. Her face wasn't graced with the soft smile that Naruto always imaged would be on her sleeping face. It wasn't contorted in pain from any unknown nightmares. Her expression was simply… plain. He couldn't read anything of it. He began to worry that maybe Sakura would never have her emotions returned to her.

Naruto seethed at this thought. No one was truly free without being able to feel what they wanted to feel. He couldn't imagine what Sakura was going through. She had repressed her pain throughout all her life and had no outlet of what she felt.

His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted the slightest movement of Sakura's fingers. They were twitching. Feeling as she was reaching out to him, he sat in the chair beside her and took her hand in his. Staring at her pale hand, he wasn't sure what was happening, but he felt that he should reassure her. He squeezed her hand and was surprised when she squeezed back. A smile slowly crept onto his face.

Naruto could always count on Sakura to reassure him that everything was going to be okay when he felt that it wasn't. "Don't worry, Sakura, everything will be just like they should be!" he said cheerfully.

He could still hope.

XxXx

"_Otouto," Itachi said blood dripping from his lips. He sat against a tree having lost the strength to stand on his own. Sasuke halted his final attack and lowered his weapon. For most of his life, Itachi had tormented him, creating a living hell that he had to endure, but before then, the elder Uchiha made Sasuke feel as if he could always believe in him, as a person, to guide him through his life. He trusted Itachi to push him to his limits, but not to the point of killing each other. He trushed him as an older brother._

_And he disappointed him. _

_No amount of years could make this wound hurt any less._

_When Itachi uttered that word Sasuke's heart squeezed painfully, the child in him curling into himself. He had said it with… affection. _

"_D-don't call me that! Stop calling me that!" Sasuke yelled into his brother's face. Itachi did nothing but smile softly. "Stop smiling! I'm about to kill you with no regrets! You shouldn't be smiling…"_

_The older brother only deactivated his Sharingan as he finally looked at Sasuke. He actually __**looked **__at him. He could see all the damage he caused in his younger sibling. He tore him apart from a young age slowly chipping a piece of him away until Sasuke would hate him enough to kill him. That was his penance. _

"_Otouto," Sasuke stiffened at the name, "Sasuke, I am… sorry." The younger Uchiha's Sharingan eyes widened before it deactivated without him knowing. _

_"For what exactly? For killing Kaa-san and Tou-san? Or maybe killing everyone else that I ever cared for! Is it the fact that you left me in a pathetic state barely getting through life based on hate? Tell me, brother! Tell me what you're sorry for!"_

"_I didn't want you to live like this. I didn't want you to have to endure this pain."_

"_Then why did you kill them!" Sasuke shouted. _

_Throughout his whole life Sasuke never felt more like a child than he did now. He was just so lost._

"_You were too young to understand, and even now, you are not ready. You will learn one day, but you have to learn on your own. I can't explain why I did what I did because it is not something that can be learned or understood."_

_Sasuke sank to his knees before his brother, "Answer me one thing." He breathed out with difficulty, "Did you really kill them to test your strength?"_

_Itachi leaned his head back against the bark his grey eyes staring at nothing. "No, Sasuke."_

_Sasuke let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. A breath that he's been holding from the very moment his clan was killed. "I'm… glad."_

"_Otouto," he reached out towards younger brother hand outstretched. _

_Sasuke could only blink in surprise as Itachi poked his forehead like he used to all those years ago. "Aniki," he choked out brokenly and before he knew it his dear aniki closed his eyes for the final time._

_His goal was complete but the crushing force that engulfed his chest was too much. Sasuke found himself letting out dry sobs for the first time in so many years before passing out due to chakra exhaustion._

XxXx

It wouldn't be his first time being abruptly awoken by sudden awareness.

Sasuke's body shot up from his slumber. His body automatically stiffening due to the strain in his muscles. Gritting his teeth he ignored the pain that was threatening to over take him. Confusion filled him, but after registering that he was in the hospital he relaxed. He squeezed his eyes shut when he was hit with the sense of vertigo. How long has he been out of it? When his light headedness passed, Sasuke took in his surrounding noticed that his torso was completely covered with bandages. His breath shook. He didn't want to think about what had happened that lead to him being here. He wasn't ready for it.

But where was Sakura?

This question put his sense on alert. He vaguely remembered placing her somewhere safe before diving into battle, but he had no memory of her afterwards. Where was she? Was she safe? Almost on the verge of panic he finally noticed that there was someone else in the room with him. Beside his bed lay the pink haired kunoichi in the same state he was. Her eyes were closed, but unlike him she wasn't covered in healing wounds. He felt relief flow through him at the sight of the steady rise and fall of her chest. "Sakura," his voice was raspy with the lack of being used. The girl remained unresponsive.

For some reason unknown to Sasuke, he found himself reaching for her. Their beds were close enough that he could touch her. He took her hand in his, concern filling his being when he noticed how cold her skin felt.

But somehow he found comfort in the fact that she was okay and that she was in one piece laying before him. He squeezed her hand and closed his eyes finally able to drift off at the knowledge that she was safe and at his side.

XxXx

Naruto grumbled all the while making his way back to his teammates' room. He was forced out of hospital the night before something having to deal with visiting hours. Bah. Finally able to return he was eager to see how his friends were doing, but was taken aback by the sight he found.

Both were still out cold, but what caught him by surprise was the fact that Sasuke was reaching over for Sakura, her hand incased in his. Naruto inwardly awed at the sight.

"I knew the bastard had feelings for her," he mumbled to himself.

"Shut up, dobe," an unexpected reply came. He huffed while taking a seat next to his now conscious friend.

"Nice to know that you're awake, teme," he found some comfort in this past time of name calling.

Sasuke didn't reply and only glared back at Naruto. The blonde noticed that his friend had released Sakura's hand and was currently acting as if it never happened.

"You had me worried, you know," Naruto said seriously.

"Hn."

"Even now you're still socially constipated.

He ignored his insult. "How long was I out?"

Cerulean eyes clashed with onyx. "Four days."

Sasuke broke eye contact only to look at Sakura, "What about her?"

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "We don't know when she'll wake up. Baa-chan mentioned something about psychological damage. She went into some detail and I can't remember."

Sasuke forced a smirk onto his face. "Was it too much for you?" He only received a serious look.

"Yes, Sasuke, it is. I can't stand not knowing if Sakura-chan will be okay."

"…"

"And what about you?" Naruto inquired.

"There's nothing wrong," Sasuke bit out, his eyebrows furrowed.

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"Stay out of my business, Naruto."

"You are my business!" he almost shouted.

The silence that followed was as heavy as the tension building. Both males glared at the other daring one to speak again.

"You know… it's hard to sleep when you guys fight," another scratchy voice broke out weakly.

Both boys whipped their head around so quickly that they were dizzy for a moment. After their heads cleared up they realized that they were looking at bright tired emerald eyes.

"S-Sakura-chan?"

She gave a small smile in response. "Hi."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with joy. He ran over to engulf her in a hug. Sakura, on the other hand, was unsure of what to do with the boy that had his arms around her, but she found herself smiling and returning the embrace. "Are you okay? Baa-chan said that you would have some problems," he said as he pulled away to look at her.

Sakura leaned back into her pillow and pondered that question. She felt fine physically at least. It seemed that she was being bombarded with things she wasn't familiar with like how Naruto's grin seemed to brighten his whole face and made her want to reply with her own smile. "Honestly… I'm not sure," she said finally, but with that statement it was almost a breath of fresh air. That simple answer was one of the first truths that she had ever spoken. "I think you should go get Tsunade-shishou, Naruto."

He frowned. "But… you just woke up! I don't want to leave."

She laughed, but nonetheless reassured him that she would still be awake when he returned.

After declaring that he would return, he dashed out to find the Hokage, leaving Sakura alone with Sasuke. Finally bringing up enough courage she looked him in the eye. He looked back unwavering, his gaze scrutinizing her. She winced at the tension between them.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke," both seemed to notice the lacking suffix, but neither tried to fix it. Sakura was so tired of forcing things out that she decided that she would just let her opinions flow out. Her roommate had yet to reply with anything and his gaze was starting to make Sakura fidget. She pulled her eyes away from his to look at her entwined fingers. When did Sasuke ever make her feel nervous?

'_Maybe he always did and I just never noticed,' _she figured.

Almost as if completely ignoring her previous question he returned it, "How are you _feeling_?"

She heard the double meaning in his words so she didn't answer immediately and just as she pondered Naruto's question earlier, she thought of his question.

After a moment, she smiled brightly, "I'm getting by." Sasuke only nodded before lying back down and turning his back to her. Sakura frowned. "That's it?" She didn't receive a response of any kind. "Is that all you have? After all that's happened that's all you can say to me?" Her irritation grew. "Well it's good to know you still have a stick up your ass."

She noticed with satisfaction that his body tensed. Sasuke quickly retorted with a glare. Sakura didn't hesitate with a glare of her own. "Sakura, go back to sleep."

"No, you go back to sleep."

"Stop being such a child."

"You stop being a child!"

"Sakura," he growled.

"Sasuke," she fumed.

Glare.

Despite his current irritation with the pink haired girl he couldn't help but notice the flashes in her eyes. They changed with the way she responded to the current situations. Emerald brightened when she smiled and darkened when she was annoyed or aggravated.

Just like now.

"Annoying woman," he spat.

"Egoistic jerk," she retorted.

Silence followed.

Sakura wasn't sure why Sasuke was being such an _ass, _but after deeper contemplation she noticed that there was a slight hunch in Sasuke's posture as if he just fought a thousand wars with no rest. It was as if he was giving up. She blinked in realization. Sasuke was only bickering with her as a distraction. Her eyes softened. He was hurting inside.

"I think that you can hate him and forgive him at the same time." Sasuke blinked confused. She continued, "Your brother I mean."

She noted that his shoulders seemed to hunch even more.

"I don't want to talk about this," he whispered looking away.

"No, Sasuke," she calmly interjected, "all your life you've been pushing what you really feel away for the things that you want, but for once in your life would you let yourself have what you_ need_?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. It's not like you could have felt anything when you told us all those lies," he spat.

She winced, but ignored it. She knew this was his way of pushing what he wasn't used to away. "Speaking of which, actually I do know what I'm talking about. For majority of my life I couldn't feel what I wanted to. I couldn't be happy, or sad, or even mad at anything at all. It was like I was forced to live a life I didn't want. And when I think back on it, Sasuke, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Sasuke remained silent his hands clenching and unclenching. She sighed out, but was determined to get through to him. "Sasuke, Itachi loved you. He truly did. Now I don't know why he had to go and over exaggerate everything, but all I know is that everything he did, he did it with you in mind."

"Shut up, Sakura," he growled out. Every one of her words was hitting home, but this was not something he was ready to face.

"No! You shut up! And listen! I spent a whole year around someone who is as talkative as a pile of rocks, but I could tell that he wasn't the ruthless killer we all thought he was. He never killed without a purpose. On every mission we went on, every chance there was to avoid a fight, we took it." Sakura reached out for Sasuke hand and was glad to notice that he didn't pull away. "Sasuke, we care for you. Naruto and I, we both care for you and we're worried for you."

"How do you know that? You don't even know what worry is."

If he wants to be a stubborn jerk then so be it. "Fine, I'll tell you exactly what I feel. I have this gut wrenching feeling when I notice how it seems like you're just giving up on life. I feel like going over to you and wrapping my arms around to keep all the dangers of the world away from you because I'm afraid that you will crumble right in front of us. M-my…" her voice cracked," my heart h-hurts knowing that I also caused some of your pain. I want so badly to go back in time to stop this, everything, from ever happening. Sasuke, I may not know exactly what I'm feeling right now, it's hard to get used to it again, but what I do know is that I _care. _But if you want to be a stubborn jackass then feel free to do so." With that said she withdrew her hand pulling the curtain between them closed so she wouldn't have to look at him.

Her chest was heaving, her whole rant finally out of her body. She found herself out of breath and she was crying. Damn, she forgot just how emotional she used to be. She didn't want to cry, she already hated it.

But no matter how much she willed herself to stop, the tears kept coming. She wiped them furiously refusing to look weak in front Sasuke.

"Damn it," she mumbled. Now she was a horribly crying mess. Way to start off the day.

All throughout Sasuke's Genin years he's seen Sakura cry more times than he could count. Every time seemed to become more bothersome than the last, but this time he could almost feel and taste her sorrow.

She was really crying this time. She was really feeling and now he felt like an ass for making her cry.

But before he could confront her he had to face his own thoughts. Sakura was right. Every word she uttered was dead on.

"Sakura," he called out. She didn't respond, but her sniffles could still be heard. "Sakura," he repeated. She still didn't answer. He sighed. Don't know why she says he's stubborn when she's just about as stubborn as he is. Knowing that she wouldn't talk, he just spoke the one thing that was on his mind.

"Thank you."

Sakura froze. Did he?

'_**Yes, he did' **_her inner interjected. She couldn't believe her ears and had to make sure she heard correctly. Pulling the curtain aside she looked him dead in the eyes. "What did you say?"

He exhaled. "You're right," he looked away unable face her tearful eyes any longer, "I need to accept everything that's happened and put it behind me. I can hate him and forgive him."

Sakura was hesitant with her reaction, not quite sure what she should do, but after a moment she broke out in a smile.

"Glad to know that you think I'm right, I'm totally telling Naruto," she teased feeling light hearted now.

If Sasuke was any other person he would have laughed, but settled on rolling his eyes and turning his back on the girl. "Annoying."

XxXx

Sasuke was released from the hospital three days later and Sakura was kept under observation for another two weeks. Deemed that she was not legally insane, she had to roll her eyes at this, (her emotions were repressed. She didn't have multiple personalities… just two, not that she was ever going to tell them that) she was held under twenty-four hour observation by ANBU at all times. She was still a missing ninja and she had killed Konoha ninja.

Naruto visited her often and during those visits the both of them talked about their history together. Naruto mainly brought up old memories while asking questions on how she might have felt. Sakura was just all too happy to finally respond honestly.

Although they were not as close as Naruto initially thought, he couldn't find it in him to hold anything against Sakura. He also found that he liked this Sakura tons better than the other one, even if she was faking.

Sakura was then tried for all her crimes, but to her surprise she was only sentenced to three years of porbabtion, no missions, and the only time she could use her chakra was in the hospital. One could only image the amount of community hours she had to fulfill. When she wasn't at the hospital she had a chakra restraining bracelet placed on her. The fact that she managed to escape execution stunned her to no end. Tsunade then told her of Itachi's unexpected visit to her office with both their rings and her scroll that she thought was lost at the last hide out.

This knowledge had made her tear up. Thanks to Itachi her punishment was lessened greatly. She owed him her life, but all she could do was stop by his unmarked grave to pay her respects.

Sometimes when Kakashi was privileged enough to baby sit Sakura, he would take her out for a light spar. Her former sensei seemed to be one of the only few people who knew exactly why she did everything that she did. The relationship was strained, but gradually she knew it would get better.

Many of the villagers would speak ill of Sakura, but she never let it bother her. She had better things to worry about anyway.

Like Sasuke.

She rarely saw him and hadn't really spoken to him since he was released. And just like all other times she found herself walking aimlessly around the village thinking of the Uchiha.

Finding herself at Team 7's old meeting spot she leaned her arms against the bridge railings as she gazed at her reflection in the water still deep in thought.

After a few moments she smiled softly to herself before straightening and looking towards her new visitor. "Hello, Sasuke-kun," she chirped.

Seeing that they were roommates for quite some time she found herself referring back to the suffix, more of habit rather than force anymore.

"Hn," he grunted in reply as he stood next to her.

She sighed, "So, Mr. Socially Retarded, how are you?" Feeling that it would take quite some time to make him warm up to her in conversation she hoisted herself on the bridge's railing to make herself more comfortable.

Sasuke gave her a pointed glare. "Fine."

Sakura contemplated her next words. "Okay then… tell me how you really feel."

He didn't try to ignore her because the one thing he did learn about this new Sakura was that she was very persistent and very _annoying. _

"I'm managing."

"I think I know what you mean," he glanced down at her and she smiled softly, "It's hard for me too, trying to understand what I'm feeling, I mean. It's like relearning how to live and how to get by with every day that passes."

He sighed. "It's difficult knowing that the one thing I've hated for so long is now gone. Killing him," he hesitated for a moment, "was my main goal. I don't know what to do anymore."

Sasuke gave Sakura his full attention when she took his hand in hers fingers intertwined. "You know… you don't have to do it alone. We could," she blushed not quite sure how to say her next words "learn how to live again… together. I mean we don't have to if you don't want to! But if you do, then we could. Even if you don't I'll still be there for you." She clamped her mouth shut realizing she was blabbing. "Sorry," she mumbled softly a blush adorned her cheeks. She suddenly found her feet to be very interesting.

The next thing she knew Sasuke was lightly grabbing her chin and lifting her face to his level. She half expected to see a smirk but was surprised to see him giving her a small smile.

"You're annoying," he whispered.

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but found she couldn't when she found her lips being pressed lightly against Sasuke's.

She could vaguely remember her last kiss with Sasuke, but she would have thought she would remember the butterflies performing an aviator show in her stomach, or the way her heart was pounding in her chest, or even the way her hands ached to touch Sasuke.

And so they did. Fingers tangled themselves in his hair. She let out a moan of satisfaction when he deepened the kiss. His hands went to her waist and he stepped in between her parted legs to get closer to her. Moments later they parted for much needed air, but Sasuke didn't release her which caused Sakura's heart to thump in a pleasant way. She smiled as she embraced him running her fingers through his now tousled hair. "So what do you say?" she whsipered into his ear.

Sakura giggled softly when Sasuke nuzzled his nose on the spot where her neck met her shoulder.

"Stop talking, Sakura," he mumbled as he placed a light kiss on the spot before pulling back.

"Well answer me first," she demanded softly.

Her only response was another mind blowing kiss. She started to think that maybe she didn't mind not talking.

* * *

A/N: And then they get married and have many Uchiha babies with green eyes and talking dyslexia yippee!

I know the scene between the Uchihas was probably not up to par, but honestly Itachi is my favorite character and I hold full respect for him (which is odd since he doesn't exist T.T) and the actual turnout for the two brothers just makes me so mad. So in memory of Itachi, I decided to allow his one true wish to come true: That Sasuke never learns of the true reason for the Uchiha Massacre, that he lives his life peaceful life knowing that Itachi did love him dearly.

So here it is! I hope it was up to expectactions.

Review!


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